The interpretation of genetic evidence regarding modern human origins depends, among other things, on assessments of the structure and the variation of ancient populations. Because we lack genetic data from the time when the first anatomically modern humans appeared, between 200,000 and 60,000 years ago, instead we exploit the phenotype of neurocranial geometry to compare the variation in early modern human fossils with that in other groups of fossil Homo and recent modern humans. Variation is assessed as the mean-squared Procrustes distance from the group average shape in a representation based on several hundred neurocranial landmarks and semilandmarks. We find that the early modern group has more shape variation than any other group in our sample, which covers 1.8 million years, and that they are morphologically similar to recent modern humans of diverse geographically dispersed populations but not to archaic groups. Of the currently competing models of modern human origins, some are inconsistent with these findings. Rather than a single out-of-Africa dispersal scenario, we suggest that early modern humans were already divided into different populations in Pleistocene Africa, after which there followed a complex migration pattern. Our conclusions bear implications for the inference of ancient human demography from genetic models and emphasize the importance of focusing research on those early modern humans, in particular, in Africa. PMID:19307568

Africa is inferred to be the continent of origin for all modern human populations, but the details of human prehistory and evolution in Africa remain largely obscure owing to the complex histories of hundreds of distinct populations. We present data for more than 580,000 SNPs for several hunter-gatherer populations: the Hadza and Sandawe of Tanzania, and the ≠Khomani Bushmen of South Africa, including speakers of the nearly extinct N|u language. We find that African hunter-gatherer populations today remain highly differentiated, encompassing major components of variation that are not found in other African populations. Hunter-gatherer populations also tend to have the lowest levels of genome-wide linkage disequilibrium among 27 African populations. We analyzed geographic patterns of linkage disequilibrium and population differentiation, as measured by F(ST), in Africa. The observed patterns are consistent with an origin of modern humans in southern Africa rather than eastern Africa, as is generally assumed. Additionally, genetic variation in African hunter-gatherer populations has been significantly affected by interaction with farmers and herders over the past 5,000 y, through both severe population bottlenecks and sex-biased migration. However, African hunter-gatherer populations continue to maintain the highest levels of genetic diversity in the world.

This book assesses the scientific value and merit of research on human genetic differences--including a collection of DNA samples that represents the whole of human genetic diversity--and the ethical...

... into human evolution and origins and serving as a springboard for important medical research. It also addresses issues of confidentiality and individual privacy for participants in genetic diversity research studies.

A photo contest is being jointly organized by the CERN Equal Opportunities team and the CERN Photo Club. All you need to do is submit a photo or quotation. The contest is open to everyone. Diversity at CERN You don’t need to be a photographer or to have sophisticated photographic equipment to capture CERN’s diversity of working styles, gender, age, ethnic, origin and physical ability. Its many facets are all around you! The emphasis of the initiative is on capturing this diversity in an image using creativity, intuition and cultural empathy. You can also contribute with a quotation (whether or not you specify who said it is optional) telling the organizers what strikes you about diversity at CERN. The photo entries and a collection of the quotations will be displayed in an exhibition to be held in May in the Main Building, as well as on the CERN Photo Club website. The best photos will be awarded prizes. So over to you: dig deep inside human nature, explore individual tal...

diversity in an urban population of Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii). J. Genet. 95, e19–e24. ... high quality habitat for this species (Boggie and Mannan. 2014) and the rapid ... The high densities of birds in urban populations can result in the ..... comparing urban and rural Cooper's hawk populations are mandatory to ...

fragmented populations. More genetic diversity was retained in areas of low recombination, suggesting that associative overdominance, driven by disfavoured homozygosity of recessive deleterious alleles, is responsible for the maintenance of genetic diversity in smaller populations. Consistent...

The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGD Project) is an international anthropology project that seeks to study the genetic richness of the entire human species. This kind of genetic information can add a unique thread to the tapestry knowledge of humanity. Culture, environment, history, and other factors are often more important, but humanity`s genetic heritage, when analyzed with recent technology, brings another type of evidence for understanding species` past and present. The Project will deepen the understanding of this genetic richness and show both humanity`sdiversity and its deep and underlying unity. The HGD Project is still largely in its planning stages, seeking the best ways to reach its goals. The continuing discussions of the Project, throughout the world, should improve the plans for the Project and their implementation. The Project is as global as humanity itself; its implementation will require the kinds of partnerships among different nations and cultures that make the involvement of UNESCO and other international organizations particularly appropriate. The author will briefly discuss the Project`s history, describe the Project, set out the core principles of the Project, and demonstrate how the Project will help combat the scourge of racism.

Full Text Available Genetic diversity, especially at genes important for immune functioning within the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC, has been associated with fitness-related traits, including disease resistance, in many species. Recently, genetic diversity has been associated with mate preferences in humans. Here we asked whether these preferences are adaptive in terms of obtaining healthier mates. We investigated whether genetic diversity (heterozygosity and standardized mean d(2 at MHC and nonMHC microsatellite loci, predicted health in 153 individuals. Individuals with greater allelic diversity (d(2 at nonMHC loci and at one MHC locus, linked to HLA-DRB1, reported fewer symptoms over a four-month period than individuals with lower d(2. In contrast, there were no associations between MHC or nonMHC heterozygosity and health. NonMHC-d(2 has previously been found to predict male preferences for female faces. Thus, the current findings suggest that nonMHC diversity may play a role in both natural and sexual selection acting on human populations.

Human beings persist in an extraordinary range of ecological settings, in the process exhibiting enormous behavioural diversity, both within and between populations. People vary in their social, mating and parental behaviour and have diverse and elaborate beliefs, traditions, norms and institutions. The aim of this theme issue is to ask whether, and how, evolutionary theory can help us to understand this diversity. In this introductory article, we provide a background to the debate surrounding how best to understand behavioural diversity using evolutionary models of human behaviour. In particular, we examine how diversity has been viewed by the main subdisciplines within the human evolutionary behavioural sciences, focusing in particular on the human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology and cultural evolution approaches. In addition to differences in focus and methodology, these subdisciplines have traditionally varied in the emphasis placed on human universals, ecological factors and socially learned behaviour, and on how they have addressed the issue of genetic variation. We reaffirm that evolutionary theory provides an essential framework for understanding behavioural diversity within and between human populations, but argue that greater integration between the subfields is critical to developing a satisfactory understanding of diversity. PMID:21199836

Although situated ∼400 km from the east coast of Africa, Madagascar exhibits cultural, linguistic, and genetic traits from both Southeast Asia and Eastern Africa. The settlement history remains contentious; we therefore used a grid-based approach to sample at high resolution the genomic diversity (including maternal lineages, paternal lineages, and genome-wide data) across 257 villages and 2,704 Malagasy individuals. We find a common Bantu and Austronesian descent for all Malagasy individuals with a limited paternal contribution from Europe and the Middle East. Admixture and demographic growth happened recently, suggesting a rapid settlement of Madagascar during the last millennium. However, the distribution of African and Asian ancestry across the island reveals that the admixture was sex biased and happened heterogeneously across Madagascar, suggesting independent colonization of Madagascar from Africa and Asia rather than settlement by an already admixed population. In addition, there are geographic influences on the present genomic diversity, independent of the admixture, showing that a few centuries is sufficient to produce detectable genetic structure in human populations. PMID:28716916

Full Text Available Remote islands and their human, animal and plant populations have long fascinated archaeologists, biologists and geographers. In this article, the chronology, diversity and interactions of human cultures in some small islands of the Fiji archipelago are explored, particularly through the application of sophisticated chemical analyses of the composition of prehistoric pottery.

shows that our isolation effort produced 38 unique OTUs in six new monophyletic clades. This high biodiversity and uniqueness of Actinobacteria in an extreme oligotrophic environment, which has previously been reported for its diversity and endemicity, is a suggestive sign of microbial biogeography of Actinobacteria and it also represents an invaluable source of biological material for future ecological and bioprospecting studies.

isolation effort produced 38 unique OTUs in six new monophyletic clades. This high biodiversity and uniqueness of Actinobacteria in an extreme oligotrophic environment, which has previously been reported for its diversity and endemicity, is a suggestive sign of microbial biogeography of Actinobacteria and it also represents an invaluable source of biological material for future ecological and bioprospecting studies. PMID:28480140

Full Text Available Plant-Microbe interactions are complex associations that feature recognition of Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns by the plant immune system and dampening of subsequent responses by pathogen encoded secreted effectors. With large effector repertoires now identified in a range of sequenced microbial genomes, much attention centres on understanding their roles in immunity or disease. These studies not only allow identification of pathogen virulence factors and strategies, they also provide an important molecular toolset suited for studying immunity in plants. The Phytophthora intracellular effector repertoire encodes a large class of proteins that translocate into host cells and exclusively target the host nucleus. Recent functional studies have implicated the CRN protein family as an important class of diverse effectors that target distinct subnuclear compartments and modify host cell signalling. Here, we characterised three necrosis inducing CRNs and show that there are differences in the levels of cell death. We show that only expression of CRN20_624 has an additive effect on PAMP induced cell death but not AVR3a induced ETI. Given their distinctive phenotypes, we assessed localisation of each CRN with a set of nuclear markers and found clear differences in CRN subnuclear distribution patterns. These assays also revealed that expression of CRN83_152 leads to a distinct change in nuclear chromatin organisation, suggesting a distinct series of events that leads to cell death upon over-expression. Taken together, our results suggestdiverse functions carried by CRN C-termini, which can be exploited to identify novel processes that take place in the host nucleus and are required for immunity or susceptibility.

For a Chinese educator residing in the United States, one distinctive characteristic of American culture is diversity. The United States is a nation comprised of diversity in race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic (SES) status, exceptionality, gender, age, and language. Diversity, on one hand, distinguishes the United States and contributes to…

The relationship and interaction between international human rights law and cultural diversity is a current topic, as is shown by the recent debates in The Netherlands on, for instance, the proposed ban on wearing facial coverage, or burqas, and the proposed ban on ritual slaughter without

Human Resource Management as an academic discipline needs to be theoretically grounded, i.e. it requires support through theories, theory-driven empirical research and critiques. In doing so, different theoretical perspectives are addressed suggesting a problem-orientated theory selection which leads inevitably to theoretical diversity.

Opisthorchis felineus or Siberian liver fluke is a trematode parasite (Opisthorchiidae) that infects the hepato-biliary system of humans and other mammals. Despite its public health significance, this wide-spread Eurasian species is one of the most poorly studied human liver flukes and nothing is known about its population genetic structure and demographic history. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap for the first time and to explore the genetic diversity in O. felineus populations from Eastern Europe (Ukraine, European part of Russia), Northern Asia (Siberia) and Central Asia (Northern Kazakhstan). Analysis of marker DNA fragments from O. felineus mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and 3 (cox1, cox3) and nuclear rDNA internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) sequences revealed that genetic diversity is very low across the large geographic range of this species. Microevolutionary processes in populations of trematodes may well be influenced by their peculiar biology. Nevertheless, we suggest that lack of population genetics structure observed in O. felineus can be primarily explained by the Pleistocene glacial events and subsequent sudden population growth from a very limited group of founders. Rapid range expansion of O. felineus through Asian and European territories after severe bottleneck points to a high dispersal potential of this trematode species. PMID:23634228

The human Y chromosome exhibits surprisingly low levels of genetic diversity. This could result from neutral processes if the effective population size of males is reduced relative to females due to a higher variance in the number of offspring from males than from females. Alternatively, selection acting on new mutations, and affecting linked neutral sites, could reduce variability on the Y chromosome. Here, using genome-wide analyses of X, Y, autosomal and mitochondrial DNA, in combination with extensive population genetic simulations, we show that low observed Y chromosome variability is not consistent with a purely neutral model. Instead, we show that models of purifying selection are consistent with observed Y diversity. Further, the number of sites estimated to be under purifying selection greatly exceeds the number of Y-linked coding sites, suggesting the importance of the highly repetitive ampliconic regions. While we show that purifying selection removing deleterious mutations can explain the low diversity on the Y chromosome, we cannot exclude the possibility that positive selection acting on beneficial mutations could have also reduced diversity in linked neutral regions, and may have contributed to lowering human Y chromosome diversity. Because the functional significance of the ampliconic regions is poorly understood, our findings should motivate future research in this area. PMID:24415951

The link between cultural diversity and human rights was clearly established by the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, adopted by the member states of UNESCO in 2001, which holds that "the defence of cultural diversity is … inseparable from respect for human dignity" and that it " implies

Full Text Available Demodex mites are a group of hair follicle and sebaceous gland-dwelling species. The species of these mites found on humans are arguably the animals with which we have the most intimate interactions. Yet, their prevalence and diversity have been poorly explored. Here we use a new molecular method to assess the occurrence of Demodex mites on humans. In addition, we use the 18S rRNA gene (18S rDNA to assess the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of Demodex lineages. Within our samples, 100% of people over 18 years of age appear to host at least one Demodex species, suggesting that Demodex mites may be universal associates of adult humans. A phylogenetic analysis of 18S rDNA reveals intraspecific structure within one of the two named human-associated Demodex species, D. brevis. The D. brevis clade is geographically structured, suggesting that new lineages are likely to be discovered as humans from additional geographic regions are sampled.

The relative importance of the roles of adaptation and chance in determining genetic diversity and evolution has received attention in the last 50 years, but our understanding is still incomplete. All statements about the relative effects of evolutionary factors, especially drift, need confirmation by strong demographic observations, some of which are easier to obtain in a species like ours. Earlier quantitative studies on a variety of data have shown that the amount of genetic differentiation in living human populations indicates that the role of positive (or directional) selection is modest. We observe geographic peculiarities with some Y chromosome mutants, most probably due to a drift-related phenomenon called the surfing effect. We also compare the overall genetic diversity in Y chromosome DNA data with that of other chromosomes and their expectations under drift and natural selection, as well as the rate of fall of diversity within populations known as the serial founder effect during the recent "Out of Africa" expansion of modern humans to the whole world. All these observations are difficult to explain without accepting a major relative role for drift in the course of human expansions. The increasing role of human creativity and the fast diffusion of inventions seem to have favored cultural solutions for many of the problems encountered in the expansion. We suggest that cultural evolution has been subrogating biologic evolution in providing natural selection advantages and reducing our dependence on genetic mutations, especially in the last phase of transition from food collection to food production.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Copy number variations (CNVs can contribute to variable degrees of fitness and/or disease predisposition. Recent studies show that at least 1% of any given genome is copy number variable when compared to the human reference sequence assembly. Homozygous deletions (or CNV nulls that are found in the normal population are of particular interest because they may serve to define non-essential genes in human biology. Results In a genomic screen investigating CNV in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs we detected a heterozygous deletion on chromosome 10p12.1, spanning the Patched-domain containing 3 (PTCHD3 gene, at a frequency of ~1.4% (6/427. This finding seemed interesting, given recent discoveries on the role of another Patched-domain containing gene (PTCHD1 in ASD. Screening of another 177 ASD probands yielded two additional heterozygous deletions bringing the frequency to 1.3% (8/604. The deletion was found at a frequency of ~0.73% (27/3,695 in combined control population from North America and Northern Europe predominately of European ancestry. Screening of the human genome diversity panel (HGDP-CEPH covering worldwide populations yielded deletions in 7/1,043 unrelated individuals and those detected were confined to individuals of European/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern ancestry. Breakpoint mapping yielded an identical 102,624 bp deletion in all cases and controls tested, suggesting a common ancestral event. Interestingly, this CNV occurs at a break of synteny between humans and mouse. Considering all data, however, no significant association of these rare PTCHD3 deletions with ASD was observed. Notwithstanding, our RNA expression studies detected PTCHD3 in several tissues, and a novel shorter isoform for PTCHD3 was characterized. Expression in transfected COS-7 cells showed PTCHD3 isoforms colocalize with calnexin in the endoplasmic reticulum. The presence of a patched (Ptc domain suggested a role for PTCHD3 in various biological

The link between cultural diversity and human rights was clearly established by the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, adopted by the member states of UNESCO in 2001, which holds that "the defence of cultural diversity is … inseparable from respect for human dignity" and that it "implies a commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms." The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in 2005, states that "cultural diversity can be protected and promoted only if human rights and fundamental freedoms … are guaranteed" (Article 2[1]). The precise relationship between cultural diversity and human rights, however, is not clarified and thus leaves room for further exploration. This contribution analyses the issues surrounding the relationship between cultural diversity and human rights, in particular cultural rights. Firstly, it addresses general human rights issues such as universality and cultural relativism and the principles of equality and non-discrimination. Secondly, it explores the scope of cultural rights, as well as the cultural dimension of human rights. Thirdly, several cases are discussed in which human rights were invoked to protect cultural interests, confirming the value of cultural diversity. Finally, some concluding remarks are presented, indicating which areas require attention in order to further improve the promotion and protection of human rights in relation to cultural diversity.

The quest to explain demographic history during the early part of human evolution has been limited because of the scarce paleoanthropological record from the Middle Stone Age. To shed light on the structure of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) phylogeny at the dawn of Homo sapiens, we constructed a matrilineal tree composed of 624 complete mtDNA genomes from sub-Saharan Hg L lineages. We paid particular attention to the Khoi and San (Khoisan) people of South Africa because they are considered to be a unique relic of hunter-gatherer lifestyle and to carry paternal and maternal lineages belonging to the deepest clades known among modern humans. Both the tree phylogeny and coalescence calculations suggest that Khoisan matrilineal ancestry diverged from the rest of the human mtDNA pool 90,000–150,000 years before present (ybp) and that at least five additional, currently extant maternal lineages existed during this period in parallel. Furthermore, we estimate that a minimum of 40 other evolutionarily successful lineages flourished in sub-Saharan Africa during the period of modern human dispersal out of Africa approximately 60,000–70,000 ybp. Only much later, at the beginning of the Late Stone Age, about 40,000 ybp, did introgression of additional lineages occur into the Khoisan mtDNA pool. This process was further accelerated during the recent Bantu expansions. Our results suggest that the early settlement of humans in Africa was already matrilineally structured and involved small, separately evolving isolated populations. PMID:18439549

Full Text Available Large-scale sequencing efforts have documented extensive genetic variation within the human genome. However, our understanding of the origins, global distribution, and functional consequences of this variation is far from complete. While regulatory variation influencing gene expression has been studied within a handful of populations, the breadth of transcriptome differences across diversehuman populations has not been systematically analyzed. To better understand the spectrum of gene expression variation, alternative splicing, and the population genetics of regulatory variation in humans, we have sequenced the genomes, exomes, and transcriptomes of EBV transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from 45 individuals in the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP. The populations sampled span the geographic breadth of human migration history and include Namibian San, Mbuti Pygmies of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Algerian Mozabites, Pathan of Pakistan, Cambodians of East Asia, Yakut of Siberia, and Mayans of Mexico. We discover that approximately 25.0% of the variation in gene expression found amongst individuals can be attributed to population differences. However, we find few genes that are systematically differentially expressed among populations. Of this population-specific variation, 75.5% is due to expression rather than splicing variability, and we find few genes with strong evidence for differential splicing across populations. Allelic expression analyses indicate that previously mapped common regulatory variants identified in eight populations from the International Haplotype Map Phase 3 project have similar effects in our seven sampled HGDP populations, suggesting that the cellular effects of common variants are shared across diverse populations. Together, these results provide a resource for studies analyzing functional differences across populations by estimating the degree of shared gene expression, alternative splicing, and

Variation in gene expression is an important contributor to phenotypic diversity within and between species. Although this variation often has a genetic component, identification of the genetic variants driving this relationship remains challenging. In particular, measurements of gene expression usually do not reveal whether the genetic basis for any observed variation lies in cis or in trans to the gene, a distinction that has direct relevance to the physical location of the underlying genetic variant, and which may also impact its evolutionary trajectory. Allelic imbalance measurements identify cis-acting genetic effects by assaying the relative contribution of the two alleles of a cis-regulatory region to gene expression within individuals. Identification of patterns that predict commonly imbalanced genes could therefore serve as a useful tool and also shed light on the evolution of cis-regulatory variation itself. Here, we show that sequence motifs, polymorphism levels, and divergence levels around a gene can be used to predict commonly imbalanced genes in a human data set. Reduction of this feature set to four factors revealed that only one factor significantly differentiated between commonly imbalanced and nonimbalanced genes. We demonstrate that these results are consistent between the original data set and a second published data set in humans obtained using different technical and statistical methods. Finally, we show that variation in the single allelic imbalance-associated factor is partially explained by the density of genes in the region of a target gene (allelic imbalance is less probable for genes in gene-dense regions), and, to a lesser extent, the evenness of expression of the gene across tissues and the magnitude of negative selection on putative regulatory regions of the gene. These results suggest that the genomic distribution of functional cis-regulatory variants in the human genome is nonrandom, perhaps due to local differences in evolutionary

Full Text Available DNA methylation plays a crucial role in development through inheritable gene silencing. Plants possess three types of DNA methyltransferases (MTases, namely Methyltransferase (MET, Chromomethylase (CMT and Domains Rearranged Methyltransferase (DRM, which maintain methylation at CG, CHG and CHH sites. DNA MTases have not been studied in legumes so far. Here, we report the identification and analysis of putative DNA MTases in five legumes, including chickpea, soybean, pigeonpea, Medicago and Lotus. MTases in legumes could be classified in known MET, CMT, DRM and DNA nucleotide methyltransferases (DNMT2 subfamilies based on their domain organization. First three MTases represent DNA MTases, whereas DNMT2 represents a transfer RNA (tRNA MTase. Structural comparison of all the MTases in plants with known MTases in mammalian and plant systems have been reported to assign structural features in context of biological functions of these proteins. The structure analysis clearly specified regions crucial for protein-protein interactions and regions important for nucleosome binding in various domains of CMT and MET proteins. In addition, structural model of DRM suggested that circular permutation of motifs does not have any effect on overall structure of DNA methyltransferase domain. These results provide valuable insights into role of various domains in molecular recognition and should facilitate mechanistic understanding of their function in mediating specific methylation patterns. Further, the comprehensive gene expression analyses of MTases in legumes provided evidence of their role in various developmental processes throughout the plant life cycle and response to various abiotic stresses. Overall, our study will be very helpful in establishing the specific functions of DNA MTases in legumes.

Full Text Available To further extend our understanding of the mechanism causing the current nearly extinct status of the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer, one of the most critically endangered species in the world, genetic diversity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC class II DRB locus was investigated in the baiji. Nine highly divergent DRB alleles were identified in 17 samples, with an average of 28.4 (13.2% nucleotide difference and 16.7 (23.5% amino acid difference between alleles. The unexpectedly high levels of DRB allelic diversity in the baiji may partly be attributable to its evolutionary adaptations to the freshwater environment which is regarded to have a higher parasite diversity compared to the marine environment. In addition, balancing selection was found to be the main mechanisms in generating sequence diversity at baiji DRB gene. Considerable sequence variation at the adaptive MHC genes despite of significant loss of neutral genetic variation in baiji genome might suggest that intense selection has overpowered random genetic drift as the main evolutionary forces, which further suggested that the critically endangered or nearly extinct status of the baiji is not an outcome of genetic collapse.

Full Text Available CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats loci, together with cas (CRISPR-associated genes, form the CRISPR/Cas adaptive immune system, a primary defense strategy that eubacteria and archaea mobilize against foreign nucleic acids, including phages and conjugative plasmids. Short spacer sequences separated by the repeats are derived from foreign DNA and direct interference to future infections. The availability of hundreds of shotgun metagenomic datasets from the Human Microbiome Project (HMP enables us to explore the distribution and diversity of known CRISPRs in human-associated microbial communities and to discover new CRISPRs. We propose a targeted assembly strategy to reconstruct CRISPR arrays, which whole-metagenome assemblies fail to identify. For each known CRISPR type (identified from reference genomes, we use its direct repeat consensus sequence to recruit reads from each HMP dataset and then assemble the recruited reads into CRISPR loci; the unique spacer sequences can then be extracted for analysis. We also identified novel CRISPRs or new CRISPR variants in contigs from whole-metagenome assemblies and used targeted assembly to more comprehensively identify these CRISPRs across samples. We observed that the distributions of CRISPRs (including 64 known and 86 novel ones are largely body-site specific. We provide detailed analysis of several CRISPR loci, including novel CRISPRs. For example, known streptococcal CRISPRs were identified in most oral microbiomes, totaling ∼8,000 unique spacers: samples resampled from the same individual and oral site shared the most spacers; different oral sites from the same individual shared significantly fewer, while different individuals had almost no common spacers, indicating the impact of subtle niche differences on the evolution of CRISPR defenses. We further demonstrate potential applications of CRISPRs to the tracing of rare species and the virus exposure of individuals

Full Text Available In humans, the rate of recombination, as measured on the megabase scale, is positively associated with the level of genetic variation, as measured at the genic scale. Despite considerable debate, it is not clear whether these factors are causally linked or, if they are, whether this is driven by the repeated action of adaptive evolution or molecular processes such as double-strand break formation and mismatch repair. We introduce three innovations to the analysis of recombination and diversity: fine-scale genetic maps estimated from genotype experiments that identify recombination hotspots at the kilobase scale, analysis of an entire human chromosome, and the use of wavelet techniques to identify correlations acting at different scales. We show that recombination influences genetic diversity only at the level of recombination hotspots. Hotspots are also associated with local increases in GC content and the relative frequency of GC-increasing mutations but have no effect on substitution rates. Broad-scale association between recombination and diversity is explained through covariance of both factors with base composition. To our knowledge, these results are the first evidence of a direct and local influence of recombination hotspots on genetic variation and the fate of individual mutations. However, that hotspots have no influence on substitution rates suggests that they are too ephemeral on an evolutionary time scale to have a strong influence on broader scale patterns of base composition and long-term molecular evolution.

Trichuris from françois' leaf monkey, suggesting multiple whipworm species circulating among non-human primates. The genetic and protein distances between pig Trichuris from Denmark and other regions were roughly 9% and 6%, respectively, while Chinese and Ugandan whipworms were more closely related......) suggesting that they represented different species. Trichuris from the olive baboon in US was genetically related to human Trichuris in China, while the other from the hamadryas baboon in Denmark was nearly identical to human Trichuris from Uganda. Baboon-derived Trichuris was genetically distinct from......BACKGROUND: The whipworms Trichuris trichiura and Trichuris suis are two parasitic nematodes of humans and pigs, respectively. Although whipworms in human and non-human primates historically have been referred to as T. trichiura, recent reports suggest that several Trichuris spp. are found...

Full Text Available Astroviruses (AstVs are positive sense, single-stranded RNA viruses transmitted to a wide range of hosts via the fecal-oral route. The number of AstV-infected animal hosts has rapidly expanded in recent years with many more likely to be discovered because of the advances in viral surveillance and next generation sequencing. Yet no study to date has identified human AstV genotypes in animals, although diverse AstV genotypes similar to animal-origin viruses have been found in children with diarrhea and in one instance of encephalitis. Here we provide important new evidence that non-human primates (NHP can harbor a wide variety of mammalian and avian AstV genotypes, including those only associated with human infection. Serological analyses confirmed that >25% of the NHP tested had antibodies to human AstVs. Further, we identified a recombinant AstV with parental relationships to known human AstVs. Phylogenetic analysis suggests AstVs in NHP are on average evolutionarily much closer to AstVs from other animals than are AstVs from bats, a frequently proposed reservoir. Our studies not only demonstrate that human astroviruses can be detected in NHP but also suggest that NHP are unique in their ability to support diverse AstV genotypes, further challenging the paradigm that astrovirus infection is species-specific.

Equality and diversity are central to education and health services, in terms of both employment and service delivery. Clinical teachers need to be able to support students and trainees around equality issues, have the confidence to challenge discriminatory practice and provide an inclusive and safe learning and teaching environment.

The term race is a traditional synonym for subspecies, however it is frequently asserted that Homo sapiens is monotypic and that what are termed races are nothing more than biological illusions. In this manuscript a case is made for the hypothesis that H. sapiens is polytypic, and in this way is no different from other species exhibiting similar levels of genetic and morphological diversity. First it is demonstrated that the four major definitions of race/subspecies can be shown to be synonymous within the context of the framework of race as a correlation structure of traits. Next the issue of taxonomic classification is considered where it is demonstrated that H. sapiens possesses high levels morphological diversity, genetic heterozygosity and differentiation (F(ST)) compared to many species that are acknowledged to be polytypic with respect to subspecies. Racial variation is then evaluated in light of the phylogenetic species concept, where it is suggested that the least inclusive monophyletic units exist below the level of species within H. sapiens indicating the existence of a number of potential human phylogenetic species; and the biological species concept, where it is determined that racial variation is too small to represent differentiation at the level of biological species. Finally the implications of this are discussed in the context of anthropology where an accurate picture of the sequence and timing of events during the evolution of human taxa are required for a complete picture of human evolution, and medicine, where a greater appreciation of the role played by human taxonomic differences in disease susceptibility and treatment responsiveness will save lives in the future.

Purpose: Education for equity in global development and cultural diversity calls for professional capacity building to perceive diverse perspectives on complex procedures of globalisation. The discipline of human geography is such a "provider of perspectives". The purpose of this paper is to propose a historic series of how theories of geography…

including quantitative and qualitative comparisons, as well as human subject studies, on two benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed model can produce more diverse and distinct tags than the state-of-the-arts.

Full Text Available Analysis of human body microbial diversity is fundamental to understanding community structure, biology and ecology. The National Institutes of Health Human Microbiome Project (HMP has provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine microbial diversity within and across body habitats and individuals through pyrosequencing-based profiling of 16 S rRNA gene sequences (16 S from habits of the oral, skin, distal gut, and vaginal body regions from over 200 healthy individuals enabling the application of statistical techniques. In this study, two approaches were applied to elucidate the nature and extent of human microbiome diversity. First, bootstrap and parametric curve fitting techniques were evaluated to estimate the maximum number of unique taxa, S(max, and taxa discovery rate for habitats across individuals. Next, our results demonstrated that the variation of diversity within low abundant taxa across habitats and individuals was not sufficiently quantified with standard ecological diversity indices. This impact from low abundant taxa motivated us to introduce a novel rank-based diversity measure, the Tail statistic, ("τ", based on the standard deviation of the rank abundance curve if made symmetric by reflection around the most abundant taxon. Due to τ's greater sensitivity to low abundant taxa, its application to diversity estimation of taxonomic units using taxonomic dependent and independent methods revealed a greater range of values recovered between individuals versus body habitats, and different patterns of diversity within habitats. The greatest range of τ values within and across individuals was found in stool, which also exhibited the most undiscovered taxa. Oral and skin habitats revealed variable diversity patterns, while vaginal habitats were consistently the least diverse. Collectively, these results demonstrate the importance, and motivate the introduction, of several visualization and analysis methods tuned specifically for

Full Text Available The shape of nuclei in many adherent cultured cells approximates an oblate ellipsoid, with contralateral flattened surfaces facing the culture plate or the medium. Observations of cultured cell nuclei from orthogonal perspectives revealed that nucleoporin p62 (NUP62 and nucleoporin 214 (NUP214 are differentially distributed between nuclear pore complexes on the flattened surfaces and peripheral rim of the nucleus. High resolution stimulated emission depletion (STED immunofluorescence microscopy resolved individual NPCs, and suggested both heterogeneity and microheterogeneity in NUP62 and NUP214 immunolabeling among in NPC populations. Similar to nuclear domains and interphase chromosome territories, architectural diversity and spatial patterning of NPCs may be an intrinsic property of the nucleus that is linked to the functions and organization of underlying chromatin.

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to scrutinize the impact of employees’ perceptions of their organization’s human resource diversity management (HRDM practices on their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB level. The influence of diversity receptiveness as a mediator in the proposed relationship is also examined. Survey data were gathered from operational employees attached to large hotel in Malaysia. 430 usable questionnaires were used in statistical analyses. The results indicated that the hypothesized linkage between HRDM practices and diversity receptiveness as well as between HRDM practices and OCB were partially supported. The mediating role of diversity receptiveness in the relationship was also partially supported. Implications and limitations of the findings are specified. Finally, directions for future research are suggested.

Patterns of human genetic diversitysuggest that all modern humans originated from a small population in Africa that expanded rapidly 50,000 years ago to occupy the whole world. While moving into new environments, genetic drift and natural selection affected populations differently, creating genetic structure. By understanding the genetic structure of human populations, we can reconstruct human history and understand the genetic basis of diseases. The work presented here contributes to the on...

The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a propitious time for educators to examine its implications for educating citizens in multicultural nation states. The author argues that students must experience democratic classrooms and schools that reflect their cultures and identities to internalize human rights values,…

The red alga Polysiphonia morrowii, native to the North Pacific (Northeast Asia), has recently been reported worldwide. To determine the origin of the French and Argentine populations of this introduced species, we compared samples from these two areas with samples collected in Korea and at Hakodate, Japan, the type locality of the species. Combined analyses of chloroplastic (rbcL) and mitochondrial (cox1) DNA revealed that the French and Argentine populations are closely related and differ substantially from the Korean and Japanese populations. The genetic structure of P. morrowii populations from South Atlantic and North Atlantic, which showed high haplotype diversity compared with populations from the North Pacific, suggested the occurrence of multiple introduction events from areas outside of the so-called native regions. Although similar, the French and Argentine populations are not genetically identical. Thus, the genetic structure of these two introduced areas may have been modified by cryptic and recurrent introduction events directly from Asia or from other introduced areas that act as introduction relays. In addition, the large number of private cytoplasmic types identified in the two introduced regions strongly suggests that local populations of P. morrowii existed before the recent detection of these invasions. Our results suggest that the most likely scenario is that the source population(s) of the French and Argentine populations was not located only in the North Pacific and/or that P. morrowii is a cryptogenic species.

In this work we propose a new automatic image annotation model, dubbed {\\\\bf diverse and distinct image annotation} (D2IA). The generative model D2IA is inspired by the ensemble of human annotations, which create semantically relevant, yet distinct and diverse tags. In D2IA, we generate a relevant and distinct tag subset, in which the tags are relevant to the image contents and semantically distinct to each other, using sequential sampling from a determinantal point process (DPP) model. Multiple such tag subsets that cover diverse semantic aspects or diverse semantic levels of the image contents are generated by randomly perturbing the DPP sampling process. We leverage a generative adversarial network (GAN) model to train D2IA. Extensive experiments including quantitative and qualitative comparisons, as well as human subject studies, on two benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed model can produce more diverse and distinct tags than the state-of-the-arts.

It is broadly agreed that international human rights law and cultural diversity have a mutually interdependent and beneficial relationship. Many human rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, as well as the rights to take part in cultural life

Many deltas around the world are suffering from sediment deficits that render them unstable to current and predicted rates of sea level rise. One solution proposed to alleviate the complete or partial drowning of such deltas is the use of river diversions to increase the quantity of sediment supplied to the delta plain to support marsh accretion. We examine the results of a half century old program of diversion in the Danube delta that led to the creation of an extensive diversion channel network akin in scope and size to a natural deltaic network. Danube’s importance as a shipping route increased after the Crimean War in the 1850s; the European Danube Commission was charged with maintaining the Sulina distributary as a shipping channel until 1940s. In the same period, several canals were dug to aid fishing in lakes and bring freshwater to brackish lagoons. After World War II, Communist authorities dramatically increased the number of canals for fishing, fish-farming and reed harvesting. New data on sedimentation rates and estimates of sediment fluxes suggest that the intensive canalization in the second half of the 20th Century led to increased sediment deposition that compensated the decreasing sediment discharge linked to damming within the internal fluvial part of the delta; however, the external marine delta has become increasingly sediment starved during the same interval. We emphasize the similarities and contrasts between the “human-controlled” and natural deltaic channel networks of the Danube delta and discuss the sustainability of the delta as a sediment budget problem within a sea level rise context.

and the elucidation of their symptom manifestations, as well as effective therapeutic interventions, which clearly show how human rights issues are linked to research and clinical psychiatry. The analyses of how different ethnic groups use psychiatric services, epitomize how important it is to pay attention to gender...

Full Text Available Fragaria × ananassa (common name: strawberry is a globally cultivated hybrid species belonging to Rosaceae family. Colletotrichum acutatum sensu lato (s.l. is considered to be the second most economically important pathogen worldwide affecting strawberries. A collection of 148 Colletotrichum spp. isolates including 67 C. acutatum s.l. isolates associated with the phytosanitary history of UK strawberry production were used to characterize multi-locus genetic variation of this pathogen in the UK, relative to additional reference isolates that represent a worldwide sampling of the diversity of the fungus. The evidence indicates that three different species C. nymphaeae, C. godetiae and C. fioriniae are associated with strawberry production in the UK, which correspond to previously designated genetic groups A2, A4 and A3, respectively. Among these species, 12 distinct haplotypes were identified suggesting multiple introductions into the country. A subset of isolates was also used to compare aggressiveness in causing disease on strawberry plants and fruits. Isolates belonging to C. nymphaeae, C. godetiae and C. fioriniae representative of the UK anthracnose pathogen populations showed variation in their aggressiveness. Among the three species, C. nymphaeae and C. fioriniae appeared to be more aggressive compared to C. godetiae. This study highlights the genetic and pathogenic heterogeneity of the C. acutatum s.l. populations introduced into the UK linked to strawberry production.

Fragaria × ananassa (common name: strawberry) is a globally cultivated hybrid species belonging to Rosaceae family. Colletotrichum acutatum sensu lato (s.l.) is considered to be the second most economically important pathogen worldwide affecting strawberries. A collection of 148 Colletotrichum spp. isolates including 67 C. acutatum s.l. isolates associated with the phytosanitary history of UK strawberry production were used to characterize multi-locus genetic variation of this pathogen in the UK, relative to additional reference isolates that represent a worldwide sampling of the diversity of the fungus. The evidence indicates that three different species C. nymphaeae, C. godetiae and C. fioriniae are associated with strawberry production in the UK, which correspond to previously designated genetic groups A2, A4 and A3, respectively. Among these species, 12 distinct haplotypes were identified suggesting multiple introductions into the country. A subset of isolates was also used to compare aggressiveness in causing disease on strawberry plants and fruits. Isolates belonging to C. nymphaeae, C. godetiae and C. fioriniae representative of the UK anthracnose pathogen populations showed variation in their aggressiveness. Among the three species, C. nymphaeae and C. fioriniae appeared to be more aggressive compared to C. godetiae. This study highlights the genetic and pathogenic heterogeneity of the C. acutatum s.l. populations introduced into the UK linked to strawberry production. PMID:26086351

The increase in the international dimensions of human resources management and the extension of European Union represents important premises regarding the harmonization of human resources practices at the level of the European countries. Despite this, the main characteristic of the European model of management is diversity. During the last decade, the human resource function registered profound changes, determined especially by the economic, social, cultural and political context registered a...

The aim of this paper is to evaluate human resource Diversity Management in agricultural companies in the Czech Republic and to prepare a set of recommendations for the companies in this area. The primary data for the study was obtained by the use of questionnaires designed for quantitative analysis (n = 549, n agriculture = 108). The results indicate that the use of Diversity Management on Czech companies is relatively low (36.1%; n a = 108). But in view ...

Humans have converted forest to agricultural and urban uses, exploited species, fragmented wildlands, changed the demographic structure of forests, altered habitat, degraded the environment with atmospheric and soil pollutants, introduced exotic pests and competitors, and domesticated favored species. None of these activities is new; perhaps with the exception of atmospheric pollution, they date back to prehistory. All have impacted genetic diversity by their influence on the evolutionary processes of extinction, selection, drift, gene flow, and mutation, sometimes increasing diversity, as int he case of domestication, but often reducing it. Even in the absence of changes in diversity, mating systems were altered, changing the genetic structure of populations. Demographic changes influenced selection by increasing the incidence of disease. Introduction of exotic diseases, insects, mammalian herbivores, and competing vegetation has had the best-documented effects on genetic diversity, reducing both species diversity and intraspecific diversity. Deforestation has operated on a vast scale to reduce diversity by direct elimination of locally-adapted populations. Atmospheric pollution and global warming will be a major threat in the near future, particularly because forests are fragmented and migration is impeded. Past impacts can be estimated with reference to expert knowledge, but hard data are often laching. Baselines are needed to quantify future impacts and provide an early warning of problems. Genetic inventories of indicator species can provide the baselines against which to measure changes in diversity. (author) (44 refs.).

Background Later Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia remains poorly understood owing to a scarcity of well described, reliably classified and accurately dated fossils. Southwest China has been identified from genetic research as a hotspot of humandiversity, containing ancient mtDNA and Y-DNA lineages, and has yielded a number of human remains thought to derive from Pleistocene deposits. We have prepared, reconstructed, described and dated a new partial skull from a consolidated sediment block collected in 1979 from the site of Longlin Cave (Guangxi Province). We also undertook new excavations at Maludong (Yunnan Province) to clarify the stratigraphy and dating of a large sample of mostly undescribed human remains from the site. Methodology/Principal Findings We undertook a detailed comparison of cranial, including a virtual endocast for the Maludong calotte, mandibular and dental remains from these two localities. Both samples probably derive from the same population, exhibiting an unusual mixture of modern human traits, characters probably plesiomorphic for later Homo, and some unusual features. We dated charcoal with AMS radiocarbon dating and speleothem with the Uranium-series technique and the results show both samples to be from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: ∼14.3-11.5 ka. Conclusions/Significance Our analysis suggests two plausible explanations for the morphology sampled at Longlin Cave and Maludong. First, it may represent a late-surviving archaic population, perhaps paralleling the situation seen in North Africa as indicated by remains from Dar-es-Soltane and Temara, and maybe also in southern China at Zhirendong. Alternatively, East Asia may have been colonised during multiple waves during the Pleistocene, with the Longlin-Maludong morphology possibly reflecting deep population substructure in Africa prior to modern humans dispersing into Eurasia. PMID:22431968

Influential demographic projections suggest that the global human population will stabilize at about 9-10 billion people by mid-century. These projections rest on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that the energy needed to fuel development and the associated decline in fertility will keep pace with energy demand far into the future. The second is that the demographic transition is irreversible such that once countries start down the path to lower fertility they cannot reverse to higher fertility. Both of these assumptions are problematic and may have an effect on population projections. Here we examine these assumptions explicitly. Specifically, given the theoretical and empirical relation between energy-use and population growth rates, we ask how the availability of energy is likely to affect population growth through 2050. Using a cross-country data set, we show that human population growth rates are negatively related to per-capita energy consumption, with zero growth occurring at ∼13 kW, suggesting that the global human population will stop growing only if individuals have access to this amount of power. Further, we find that current projected future energy supply rates are far below the supply needed to fuel a global demographic transition to zero growth, suggesting that the predicted leveling-off of the global population by mid-century is unlikely to occur, in the absence of a transition to an alternative energy source. Direct consideration of the energetic constraints underlying the demographic transition results in a qualitatively different population projection than produced when the energetic constraints are ignored. We suggest that energetic constraints be incorporated into future population projections.

Full Text Available Influential demographic projections suggest that the global human population will stabilize at about 9-10 billion people by mid-century. These projections rest on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that the energy needed to fuel development and the associated decline in fertility will keep pace with energy demand far into the future. The second is that the demographic transition is irreversible such that once countries start down the path to lower fertility they cannot reverse to higher fertility. Both of these assumptions are problematic and may have an effect on population projections. Here we examine these assumptions explicitly. Specifically, given the theoretical and empirical relation between energy-use and population growth rates, we ask how the availability of energy is likely to affect population growth through 2050. Using a cross-country data set, we show that human population growth rates are negatively related to per-capita energy consumption, with zero growth occurring at ∼13 kW, suggesting that the global human population will stop growing only if individuals have access to this amount of power. Further, we find that current projected future energy supply rates are far below the supply needed to fuel a global demographic transition to zero growth, suggesting that the predicted leveling-off of the global population by mid-century is unlikely to occur, in the absence of a transition to an alternative energy source. Direct consideration of the energetic constraints underlying the demographic transition results in a qualitatively different population projection than produced when the energetic constraints are ignored. We suggest that energetic constraints be incorporated into future population projections.

The presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type-1 diversity has an impact on vaccine efficacy and drug resistance. It is important to know the circulating genetic variants and associated drug-resistance mutations in the context of scale up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to ...

Fungal infections of the skin affect 29 million people in the United States. In the first study of human fungal skin diversity, National Institutes of Health researchers sequenced the DNA of fungi that thrive at different skin sites of healthy adults to d

The availability of plants and freshwater shapes the diets and social behavior of chimpanzees, our closest living relative. However, limited evidence about the spatial relationships shared between ancestral human (hominin) remains, edible resources, refuge, and freshwater leaves the influence of local resources on our species' evolution open to debate. Exceptionally well-preserved organic geochemical fossils-biomarkers-preserved in a soil horizon resolve different plant communities at meter scales across a contiguous 25,000 m2 archaeological land surface at Olduvai Gorge from about 2 Ma. Biomarkers reveal hominins had access to aquatic plants and protective woods in a patchwork landscape, which included a spring-fed wetland near a woodland that both were surrounded by open grassland. Numerous cut-marked animal bones are located within the wooded area, and within meters of wetland vegetation delineated by biomarkers for ferns and sedges. Taken together, plant biomarkers, clustered bone debris, and hominin remains define a clear spatial pattern that places animal butchery amid the refuge of an isolated forest patch and near freshwater with diverse edible resources.

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Genetic analyses of human lice have shown that the current taxonomic classification of head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis and body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus does not reflect their phylogenetic organization. Three phylotypes of head lice A, B and C exist but body lice have been observed only in phylotype A. Head and body lice have different behaviours and only the latter have been involved in outbreaks of infectious diseases including epidemic typhus, trench fever and louse borne recurrent fever. Recent studies suggest that body lice arose several times from head louse populations. METHODS AND FINDINGS: By introducing a new genotyping technique, sequencing variable intergenic spacers which were selected from louse genomic sequence, we were able to evaluate the genotypic distribution of 207 human lice. Sequence variation of two intergenic spacers, S2 and S5, discriminated the 207 lice into 148 genotypes and sequence variation of another two intergenic spacers, PM1 and PM2, discriminated 174 lice into 77 genotypes. Concatenation of the four intergenic spacers discriminated a panel of 97 lice into 96 genotypes. These intergenic spacer sequence types were relatively specific geographically, and enabled us to identify two clusters in France, one cluster in Central Africa (where a large body louse outbreak has been observed and one cluster in Russia. Interestingly, head and body lice were not genetically differentiated. CONCLUSIONS: We propose a hypothesis for the emergence of body lice, and suggest that humans with both low hygiene and head louse infestations provide an opportunity for head louse variants, able to ingest a larger blood meal (a required characteristic of body lice, to colonize clothing. If this hypothesis is ultimately supported, it would help to explain why poor human hygiene often coincides with outbreaks of body lice. Additionally, if head lice act as a reservoir for body lice, and that any social degradation in

The Second Human Genome Diversity Workshop was successfully held at Penn State University from October 29--31, 1992. The Workshop was essentially organized around 7 groups, each comprising approximately 10 participants, representing the sampling issues in different regions of the world. These groups worked independently, using a common format provided by the organizers; this was adjusted as needed by the individual groups. The Workshop began with a presentation of the mandate to the participants, and of the procedures to be followed during the workshop. Dr. Feldman presented a summary of the results from the First Workshop. He and the other organizers also presented brief comments giving their perspective on the objectives of the Second Workshop. Dr. Julia Bodmer discussed the study of European genetic diversity, especially in the context of the HLA experience there, and of plans to extend such studies in the coming years. She also discussed surveys of world HLA laboratories in regard to resources related to Human Genome Diversity. Dr. Mark Weiss discussed the relevance of nonhuman primate studies for understanding how demographic processes, such as mate exchange between local groups, affected the local dispersion of genetic variation. Primate population geneticists have some relevant experience in interpreting variation at this local level, in particular, with various DNA fingerprinting methods. This experience may be relevant to the Human Genome Diversity Project, in terms of practical and statistical issues.

Although Africa has played a central role in human evolutionary history, certain studies have suggested that not all contemporary human genetic diversity is of recent African origin. We investigated 35 simple polymorphic sites and one Tn microsatellite in an 8-kb segment of the dystrophin gene. We found 86 haplotypes in 1,343 chromosomes from around the world. Although a classical out-of-Africa topology was observed in trees based on the variant frequencies, the tree of haplotype sequences re...

Full Text Available Objectives & Methods: This suggestion was attempted to be elevated the recognition of common characteristics in disease. So, we performed to analyze the correlation of common cause of disease, characteristics of human body, and medical treatment. And the results are as follows. Results: 1. The cause of disease is consist of genetic factor, aging, habit, food of not good in health, weather, environment, deficit of the physical activity, stress and so on. 2. Generally, human has common and individual weakness. Individual weakness is appeared similar to the occurrence of volcano and lapse. 3. The correlation of disease and medical treatments is possible to explain using the quotation of the law of motion made by Isaac Newton, the great physicist. 4. When the process of the medical treatment was not progressed, the prognosis is determined by the correlation of the homeostasis(H' in human body and the homeostasis(H of disease. 5. The prognosis of disease is determined by the relationship between the energy of disease(F and medical treatment(F'. 6. The exact diagnosis is possible to predict the treatment sequence, and the facts that homeostasis in human body and disease, relationship between the energy of disease(F and medical treatment(F', action and reaction are important to determine the prognosis. 7. The careful observation of improving response and worsening action of disease becomes available for exact prognosis. Conclusion: The above described contents may be useful in clinical studies, and the concrete clinical reports about this will be made afterward.

Full Text Available Cancer is often associated with multiple and progressive genetic alterations in genes that are important for normal development. BCAS3 (Breast Cancer Amplified Sequence 3 is a gene of unknown function on human chromosome 17q23, a region associated with breakpoints of several neoplasms. The normal expression pattern of BCAS3 has not been studied, though it is implicated in breast cancer progression. Rudhira, a murine WD40 domain protein that is 98% identical to BCAS3 is expressed in embryonic stem (ES cells, erythropoiesis and angiogenesis. This suggests that BCAS3 expression also may not be restricted to mammary tissue and may have important roles in other normal as well as malignant tissues. We show that BCAS3 is also expressed in human ES cells and during their differentiation into blood vascular precursors. We find that BCAS3 is aberrantly expressed in malignant human brain lesions. In glioblastoma, hemangiopericytoma and brain abscess we note high levels of BCAS3 expression in tumor cells and some blood vessels. BCAS3 may be associated with multiple cancerous and rapidly proliferating cells and hence the expression, function and regulation of this gene merits further investigation. We suggest that BCAS3 is mis-expressed in brain tumors and could serve as a human ES cell and tumor marker.

Sense of community (SOC) is one of the most widely used and studied constructs in community psychology. As proposed by Sarason in (The Psychological sense of community: prospects for a community psychology, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1974), SOC represents the strength of bonding among community members. It is a valuable component of community life, and it has been linked to positive mental health outcomes, citizen participation, and community connectedness. However, promotion of SOC can become problematic in community psychology praxis when it conflicts with other core values proposed to define the field, namely values of humandiversity, cultural relativity, and heterogeneity of experience and perspective. Several commentators have noted that promotion of SOC can conflict with multicultural diversity because it tends to emphasize group member similarity and appears to be higher in homogeneous communities. In this paper, we introduce the idea of a community-diversity dialectic as part of praxis and research in community psychology. We argue that systematic consideration of cultural psychology perspectives can guide efforts to address a community-diversity dialectic and revise SOC formulations that ultimately will invigorate community research and action. We provide a working agenda for addressing this dialectic, proposing that systematic consideration of the creative tension between SOC and diversity can be beneficial to community psychology.

Full Text Available Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects one third of the human world population and kills someone every 15 seconds. For more than a century, scientists and clinicians have been distinguishing between the human- and animal-adapted members of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC. However, all human-adapted strains of MTBC have traditionally been considered to be essentially identical. We surveyed sequence diversity within a global collection of strains belonging to MTBC using seven megabase pairs of DNA sequence data. We show that the members of MTBC affecting humans are more genetically diverse than generally assumed, and that this diversity can be linked to human demographic and migratory events. We further demonstrate that these organisms are under extremely reduced purifying selection and that, as a result of increased genetic drift, much of this genetic diversity is likely to have functional consequences. Our findings suggest that the current increases in human population, urbanization, and global travel, combined with the population genetic characteristics of M. tuberculosis described here, could contribute to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Full Text Available Dengue virus (DENV infection of an individual human or mosquito host produces a dynamic population of closely-related sequences. This intra-host genetic diversity is thought to offer an advantage for arboviruses to adapt as they cycle between two very different host species, but it remains poorly characterized. To track changes in viral intra-host genetic diversity during horizontal transmission, we infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes by allowing them to feed on DENV2-infected patients. We then performed whole-genome deep-sequencing of human- and matched mosquito-derived DENV samples on the Illumina platform and used a sensitive variant-caller to detect single nucleotide variants (SNVs within each sample. >90% of SNVs were lost upon transition from human to mosquito, as well as from mosquito abdomen to salivary glands. Levels of viral diversity were maintained, however, by the regeneration of new SNVs at each stage of transmission. We further show that SNVs maintained across transmission stages were transmitted as a unit of two at maximum, suggesting the presence of numerous variant genomes carrying only one or two SNVs each. We also present evidence for differences in selection pressures between human and mosquito hosts, particularly on the structural and NS1 genes. This analysis provides insights into how population drops during transmission shape RNA virus genetic diversity, has direct implications for virus evolution, and illustrates the value of high-coverage, whole-genome next-generation sequencing for understanding viral intra-host genetic diversity.

Mutation of spartin (SPG20) underlies a complicated form of hereditary spastic paraplegia, a disorder principally defined by the degeneration of upper motor neurons. Using a polyclonal antibody against spartin to gain insight into the function of the endogenous molecule, we show that the endogenous molecule is present in two main isoforms of 85 kDa and 100 kDa, and 75 kDa and 85 kDa in human and murine, respectively, with restricted subcellular localization. Immunohistochemical studies on human and mouse embryo sections and in vitro cell studies indicate that spartin is likely to possess both nuclear and cytoplasmic functions. The nuclear expression of spartin closely mirrors that of the snRNP (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein) marker α-Sm, a component of the spliceosome. Spartin is also enriched at the centrosome within mitotic structures. Notably we show that spartin protein undergoes dynamic positional changes in differentiating human SH-SY5Y cells. In undifferentiated non-neuronal cells, spartin displays a nuclear and diffuse cytosolic profile, whereas spartin transiently accumulates in the trans-Golgi network and subsequently decorates discrete puncta along neurites in terminally differentiated neuroblastic cells. Investigation of these spartin-positive vesicles reveals that a large proportion colocalizes with the synaptic vesicle marker synaptotagmin. Spartin is also enriched in synaptic-like structures and in synaptic vesicle-enriched fraction

Studies of the human microbiome have revealed that even healthy individuals differ remarkably in the microbes that occupy habitats such as the gut, skin and vagina. Much of this diversity remains unexplained, although diet, environment, host genetics and early microbial exposure have all been implicated. Accordingly, to characterize the ecology of human-associated microbial communities, the Human Microbiome Project has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far. We found the diversity and abundance of each habitat's signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals. The project encountered an estimated 81-99% of the genera, enzyme families and community configurations occupied by the healthy Western microbiome. Metagenomic carriage of metabolic pathways was stable among individuals despite variation in community structure, and ethnic/racial background proved to be one of the strongest associations of both pathways and microbes with clinical metadata. These results thus delineate the range of structural and functional configurations normal in the microbial communities of a healthy population, enabling future characterization of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.

Full Text Available Cyanobacteria are thought to play a key role in carbonate formation due to their metabolic activity, but other organisms carrying out oxygenic photosynthesis (photosynthetic eukaryotes or other metabolisms (e.g. anoxygenic photosynthesis, sulfate reduction, may also contribute to carbonate formation. To obtain more quantitative information than that provided by more classical PCR-dependent methods, we studied the microbial diversity of microbialites from the Alchichica crater lake (Mexico by mining for 16S/18S rRNA genes in metagenomes obtained by direct sequencing of environmental DNA. We studied samples collected at the Western (AL-W and Northern (AL-N shores of the lake and, at the latter site, along a depth gradient (1, 5, 10 and 15 m depth. The associated microbial communities were mainly composed of bacteria, most of which seemed heterotrophic, whereas archaea were negligible. Eukaryotes composed a relatively minor fraction dominated by photosynthetic lineages, diatoms in AL-W, influenced by Si-rich seepage waters, and green algae in AL-N samples. Members of the Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria classes of Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the most abundant bacterial taxa, followed by Planctomycetes, Deltaproteobacteria (Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes and Chloroflexi. Community composition varied among sites and with depth. Although cyanobacteria were the most important bacterial group contributing to the carbonate precipitation potential, photosynthetic eukaryotes, anoxygenic photosynthesizers and sulfate reducers were also very abundant. Cyanobacteria affiliated to Pleurocapsales largely increased with depth. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM observations showed considerable areas of aragonite-encrusted Pleurocapsa-like cyanobacteria at microscale. Multivariate statistical analyses showed a strong positive correlation of Pleurocapsales and Chroococcales with aragonite formation at

Low phosphorus (P) tolerance in rice is a biologically and agronomically important character. Low P tolerant Indica-type rice genotypes, Sahbhagi Dhan (SD) and Chakhao Poreiton (CP), are adapted to acidic soils and show variable response to low P levels. Using RNAseq approach, transcriptome data was generated from roots of SD and CP after 15 days of low P treatment to understand differences and similarities at molecular level. In response to low P, number of genes up-regulated (1318) was more when compared with down-regulated genes (761). Eight hundred twenty-one genes found to be significantly regulated between SD and CP in response to low P. De novo assembly using plant database led to further identification of 1535 novel transcripts. Functional annotation of significantly expressed genes suggests two distinct methods of low P tolerance. While root system architecture in SD works through serine-threonine kinase PSTOL1, suberin-mediated cell wall modification seems to be key in CP. The transcription data indicated that CP relies more on releasing its internally bound Pi and coping with low P levels by transcriptional and translational modifications and using dehydration response-based signals. Role of P transporters seems to be vital in response to low P in CP while sugar- and auxin-mediated pathway seems to be preferred in SD. At least six small RNA clusters overlap with transcripts highly expressed under low P, suggesting role of RNA super clusters in nutrient response in plants. These results help us to understand and thereby devise better strategy to enhance low P tolerance in Indica-type rice.

We search the complete orangutan genome for regions where humans are more closely related to orangutans than to chimpanzees due to incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) in the ancestor of human and chimpanzees. The search uses our recently developed coalescent HMM framework. We find ILS present in ~1%...

Fermented beverages and foods have played a significant role in most societies worldwide for millennia. To better understand how the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the main fermenting agent, evolved along this historical and expansion process, we analysed the genetic diversity among 651 strains from 56 different geographical origins, worldwide. Their genotyping at 12 microsatellite loci revealed 575 distinct genotypes organized in subgroups of yeast types, i.e. bread, beer, wine, sake. Some of these groups presented unexpected relatedness: Bread strains displayed a combination of alleles intermediate between beer and wine strains, and strains used for rice wine and sake were most closely related to beer and bread strains. However, up to 28% of genetic diversity between these technological groups was associated with geographical differences which suggests local domestications. Focusing on wine yeasts, a group of Lebanese strains were basal in an F(ST) tree, suggesting a Mesopotamia-based origin of most wine strains. In Europe, migration of wine strains occurred through the Danube Valley, and around the Mediterranean Sea. An approximate Bayesian computation approach suggested a postglacial divergence (most probable period 10,000-12,000 bp). As our results suggest intimate association between man and wine yeast across centuries, we hypothesize that yeast followed man and vine migrations as a commensal member of grapevine flora.

Full Text Available Cultural diversity plays today a prominent role in the updating and developing of human rights. Past developments in the protection of rights have essentially forgotten the democratic management of cultural and identity-based diversity. States have stifled the main developments of the rights and constrained them to partial views in favour of the majority or dominant groups in each country. The current context of regional progressive integration and social diversification within each state agrees on the need to address the adequacy of systems for the protection of rights from different strategies to the context of multiculturalism. Against the process of "nationalization of rights" it is necessary to adopt a strategy for pluralization. On the one hand, the concept of minority has to be given its corresponding importance in both international and domestic law. On the other hand, different kind of policies and legal instruments for the accommodation of diversity can be identified and used to foster this necessary process of pluralization.

The immunophenotypical features of the cellular infiltrates in different types of human atherosclerotic lesions, including diffuse intimal thickening as a potential but controversial precursor lesion, have been examined using monoclonal antibodies. Special emphasis is put on monocytes/macrophages,

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) causes a chronic, lifelong infection in >60% of adults. Multiple recent vaccine trials have failed, with viral diversity likely contributing to these failures. To understand HSV-1 diversity better, we comprehensively compared 20 newly sequenced viral genomes from China, Japan, Kenya, and South Korea with six previously sequenced genomes from the United States, Europe, and Japan. In this diverse collection of passaged strains, we found that one-fifth of the newly sequenced members share a gene deletion and one-third exhibit homopolymeric frameshift mutations (HFMs). Individual strains exhibit genotypic and potential phenotypic variation via HFMs, deletions, short sequence repeats, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms, although the protein sequence identity between strains exceeds 90% on average. In the first genome-scale analysis of positive selection in HSV-1, we found signs of selection in specific proteins and residues, including the fusion protein glycoprotein H. We also confirmed previous results suggesting that recombination has occurred with high frequency throughout the HSV-1 genome. Despite this, the HSV-1 strains analyzed clustered by geographic origin during whole-genome distance analysis. These data shed light on likely routes of HSV-1 adaptation to changing environments and will aid in the selection of vaccine antigens that are invariant worldwide. PMID:24227835

Although Africa has played a central role in human evolutionary history, certain studies have suggested that not all contemporary human genetic diversity is of recent African origin. We investigated 35 simple polymorphic sites and one T(n) microsatellite in an 8-kb segment of the dystrophin gene. We found 86 haplotypes in 1,343 chromosomes from around the world. Although a classical out-of-Africa topology was observed in trees based on the variant frequencies, the tree of haplotype sequences reveals three lineages accounting for present-day diversity. The proportion of new recombinants and the diversity of the T(n) microsatellite were used to estimate the age of haplotype lineages and the time of colonization events. The lineage that underwent the great expansion originated in Africa prior to the Upper Paleolithic (27,000-56,000 years ago). A second group, of structurally distinct haplotypes that occupy a central position on the tree, has never left Africa. The third lineage is represented by the haplotype that lies closest to the root, is virtually absent in Africa, and appears older than the recent out-of-Africa expansion. We propose that this lineage could have left Africa before the expansion (as early as 160,000 years ago) and admixed, outside of Africa, with the expanding lineage. Contemporary humandiversity, although dominated by the recently expanded African lineage, thus represents a mosaic of different contributions.

Humans are high-dimensional, complex systems consisting of many components that must coordinate in order to perform even the simplest of activities. Many behavioral studies, especially in the movement sciences, have advanced the notion of soft-assembly to describe how systems with many components...

In 1991 a group of human geneticists and molecular biologists proposed to the scientific community that a world wide survey be undertaken of variation in the human genome. To aid their considerations, the committee therefore decided to hold a small series of international workshops to explore the major scientific issues involved. The intention was to define a framework for the project which could provide a basis for much wider and more detailed discussion and planning--it was recognized that the successful implementation of the proposed project, which has come to be known as the Human Genome Diversity (HGD) Project, would not only involve scientists but also various national and international non-scientific groups all of which should contribute to the project`s development. The international HGD workshop held in Sardinia in September 1993 was the last in the initial series of planning workshops. As such it not only explored new ground but also pulled together into a more coherent form much of the formal and informal discussion that had taken place in the preceding two years. This report presents the deliberations of the Sardinia workshop within a consideration of the overall development of the HGD Project to date.

The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the habitat for hundreds of microbial species, of which many cannot be cultivated readily, presumably because of the dependencies between species 1. Studies of microbial co-occurrence in the gut have indicated community substructures that may reflect...... functional and metabolic interactions between cohabiting species 2,3. To move beyond species co-occurrence networks, we systematically identified transcriptional interactions between pairs of coexisting gut microbes using metagenomics and microarray-based metatranscriptomics data from 233 stool samples from...

The gastrointestinal mucus layer is colonized by a dense community of microbes catabolizing dietary and host carbohydrates during their expansion in the gut. Alterations in mucosal carbohydrate availability impact on the composition of microbial species. Ruminococcus gnavus is a commensal anaerobe present in the gastrointestinal tract of >90% of humans and overrepresented in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Using a combination of genomics, enzymology and crystallography, we show that the mucin-degrader R. gnavus ATCC 29149 strain produces an intramolecular trans-sialidase (IT-sialidase) that cleaves off terminal α2-3-linked sialic acid from glycoproteins, releasing 2,7-anhydro-Neu5Ac instead of sialic acid. Evidence of IT-sialidases in human metagenomes indicates that this enzyme occurs in healthy subjects but is more prevalent in IBD metagenomes. Our results uncover a previously unrecognized enzymatic activity in the gut microbiota, which may contribute to the adaptation of intestinal bacteria to the mucosal environment in health and disease.

Full Text Available Enteroviruses (EVs belong to the family Picornaviridae and are responsible for mild to severe diseases in mammals including humans and non-human primates (NHP. Simian EVs were first discovered in the 1950s in the Old World Monkeys and recently in wild chimpanzee, gorilla and mandrill in Cameroon. In the present study, we screened by PCR EVs in 600 fecal samples of wild apes and monkeys that were collected at four sites in Gabon. A total of 32 samples were positive for EVs (25 from mandrills, 7 from chimpanzees, none from gorillas. The phylogenetic analysis of VP1 and VP2 genes showed that EVs identified in chimpanzees were members of two human EV species, EV-A and EV-B, and those identified in mandrills were members of the human species EV-B and the simian species EV-J. The identification of two novel enterovirus types, EV-B112 in a chimpanzee and EV-B113 in a mandrill, suggests these NHPs could be potential sources of new EV types. The identification of EV-B107 and EV90 that were previously found in humans indicates cross-species transfers. Also the identification of chimpanzee-derived EV110 in a mandrill demonstrated a wide host range of this EV. Further research of EVs in NHPs would help understanding emergence of new types or variants, and evaluating the real risk of cross-species transmission for humans as well for NHPs populations.

In the context of the FAST20XX project (Future High-Altitude High-Speed Transport) that started in 2009 under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union (EU), the authors reexamined the legal status of private human suborbital flight, and researched whether it might be regulated as aviation or as spaceflight. International space law is ambiguous as to accommodating suborbital activities. While some provisions of the UN outer space treaties would seem to exclude them, generally there is not any explicit condition in terms of reaching orbit as a requirement for application. International air law presents equal difficulties in dealing with this activity. The classic definition of "aircraft" as contained in the Annexes to the Chicago Convention does not really encompass the kind of rocket-powered vehicles that are envisaged here. As a result, it is unclear whether the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), or both could be involved in an eventual international regulation of suborbital flight. In the absence of a uniform international regime, each state has the sovereign right to regulate human suborbital flights operating within its airspace. So far, two practical solutions have been realised or proposed, and will be analyzed. On the one hand, the USA granted power for regulation and licensing over private human suborbital flight to the Office of Commercial Space Transportation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA/AST). Subsequent regulations by the FAA have set out a series of requirements for companies that want to operate these flights, enabling a market to develop. On the other side of the Atlantic, both the European Space Agency (ESA) and a group of representatives of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) of the European Union (EU) seem to rather regard this activity as aviation, potentially subject to the regulation and certification competences of EASA

We sequenced the genomes of a ~7,000 year old farmer from Germany and eight ~8,000 year old hunter-gatherers from Luxembourg and Sweden. We analyzed these and other ancient genomes1–4 with 2,345 contemporary humans to show that most present Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: West European Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; Ancient North Eurasians (ANE) related to Upper Paleolithic Siberians3, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and Early European Farmers (EEF), who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harbored WHG-related ancestry. We model these populations’ deep relationships and show that EEF had ~44% ancestry from a “Basal Eurasian” population that split prior to the diversification of other non-African lineages. PMID:25230663

The focus of the present study was to define the human plasma lipidome and to establish novel analytical methodologies to quantify the large spectrum of plasma lipids. Partial lipid analysis is now a regular part of every patient's blood test and physicians readily and regularly prescribe drugs that alter the levels of major plasma lipids such as cholesterol and triglycerides. Plasma contains many thousands of distinct lipid molecular species that fall into six main categories including fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, sterols, and prenols. The physiological contributions of these diverse lipids and how their levels change in response to therapy remain largely unknown. As a first step toward answering these questions, we provide herein an in-depth lipidomics analysis of a pooled human plasma obtained from healthy individuals after overnight fasting and with a gender balance and an ethnic distribution that is representative of the US population. In total, we quantitatively assessed the levels of over 500 distinct molecular species distributed among the main lipid categories. As more information is obtained regarding the roles of individual lipids in health and disease, it seems likely that future blood tests will include an ever increasing number of these lipid molecules.

Full Text Available Prolidase is the only human enzyme responsible for the digestion of iminodipeptides containing proline or hydroxyproline at their C-terminal end, being a key player in extracellular matrix remodeling. Prolidase deficiency (PD is an intractable loss of function disease, characterized by mutations in the prolidase gene. The exact causes of activity impairment in mutant prolidase are still unknown. We generated three recombinant prolidase forms, hRecProl-231delY, hRecProl-E412K and hRecProl-G448R, reproducing three mutations identified in homozygous PD patients. The enzymes showed very low catalytic efficiency, thermal instability and changes in protein conformation. No variation of Mn(II cofactor affinity was detected for hRecProl-E412K; a compromised ability to bind the cofactor was found in hRecProl-231delY and Mn(II was totally absent in hRecProl-G448R. Furthermore, local structure perturbations for all three mutants were predicted by in silico analysis. Our biochemical investigation of the three causative alleles identified in perturbed folding/instability, and in consequent partial prolidase degradation, the main reasons for enzyme inactivity. Based on the above considerations we were able to rescue part of the prolidase activity in patients' fibroblasts through the induction of Heath Shock Proteins expression, hinting at new promising avenues for PD treatment.

Reduced hippocampal N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) is commonly observed in patients with advanced, chronic temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). It is unclear, however, whether an NAA deficit is also present during the clinically quiescent latent period that characterizes early TLE. This question has important implications for the use of MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) in the early identification of patients at risk for TLE. To determine whether NAA is diminished during the latent period, we obtained high-resolution (1)H spectroscopic imaging during the latent period of the rat pilocarpine model of human TLE. We used actively detuneable surface reception and volume transmission coils to enhance sensitivity and a semiautomated voxel shifting method to accurately position voxels within the hippocampi. During the latent period, 2 and 7 d following pilocarpine treatment, hippocampal NAA was significantly reduced by 27.5 +/- 6.9% (P NAA deficit is not due to neuron loss and therefore likely represents metabolic impairment of hippocampal neurons during the latent phase. Therefore, spectroscopic imaging provides an early marker for metabolic dysfunction in this model of TLE.

The identification and characterization of the complete ensemble of genes is a main goal of deciphering the digital information stored in the human genome. Many algorithms for computational gene prediction have been described, ultimately derived from two basic concepts: (1) modeling gene structure and (2) recognizing sequence similarity. Successful hybrid methods combining these two concepts have also been developed. We present a third orthogonal approach to gene prediction, based on detecting the genomic signatures of transcription, accumulated over evolutionary time. We discuss four algorithms based on this third concept: Greens and CHOWDER, which quantify mutational strand biases caused by transcription-coupled DNA repair, and ROAST and PASTA, which are based on strand-specific selection against polyadenylation signals. We combined these algorithms into an integrated method called FEAST, which we used to predict the location and orientation of thousands of putative transcription units not overlapping known genes. Many of the newly predicted transcriptional units do not appear to code for proteins. The new algorithms are particularly apt at detecting genes with long introns and lacking sequence conservation. They therefore complement existing gene prediction methods and will help identify functional transcripts within many apparent “genomic deserts.” PMID:16543943

The practice of advising bilingual parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to speak in a single language, often the majority language of the region, with their child with ASD seems to be common. Such advice, however, is not grounded on empirical evidence but appears to be based more on logical arguments and assumptions. In this commentary, fears surrounding dual language exposure and empirical evidence supporting bilingualism in children with ASD are discussed. Suggestions for future research and three key steps that clinicians can consider taking to better address the needs of diverse learners are provided.

Full Text Available Campylobacter remain the major cause of human gastroenteritis in the Developed World causing a significant burden to health services. Campylobacter are pathogens in humans and chickens, although differences in mechanistic understanding are incomplete, in part because phenotypic strain diversity creates inconsistent findings. Here, we took Campylobacter jejuni isolates (n = 100 from multi-locus sequence typed collections to assess their pathogenic diversity, through their inflammatory, cytotoxicity, adhesion, invasion and signaling responses in a high-throughput model using avian and human intestinal epithelial cells. C. jejuni induced IL-8 and CXCLi1/2 in human and avian epithelial cells, respectively, in a MAP kinase-dependent manner. In contrast, IL-10 responses in both cell types were PI 3-kinase/Akt-dependent. C. jejuni strains showed diverse levels of invasion with high invasion dependent on MAP kinase signaling in both cell lines. C. jejuni induced diverse cytotoxic responses in both cell lines with cdt-positive isolates showing significantly higher toxicity. Blockade of endocytic pathways suggested that invasion by C. jejuni was clathrin- and dynamin-dependent but caveolae- independent in both cells. In contrast, IL-8 (and CXCLi1/2 production was dependent on clathrin, dynamin, and caveolae. This study is important because of its scale, and the data produced, suggesting that avian and human epithelial cells use similar innate immune pathways where the magnitude of the response is determined by the phenotypic diversity of the Campylobacter species.

Full Text Available Male-factor infertility is a common condition, and etiology is unknown for a high proportion of cases. Abnormal epigenetic programming of the germline is proposed as a possible mechanism compromising spermatogenesis of some men currently diagnosed with idiopathic infertility. During germ cell maturation and gametogenesis, cells of the germ line undergo extensive epigenetic reprogramming. This process involves widespread erasure of somatic-like patterns of DNA methylation followed by establishment of sex-specific patterns by de novo DNA methylation. Incomplete reprogramming of the male germ line could, in theory, result in both altered sperm DNA methylation and compromised spermatogenesis.We determined concentration, motility and morphology of sperm in semen samples collected by male members of couples attending an infertility clinic. Using MethyLight and Illumina assays we measured methylation of DNA isolated from purified sperm from the same samples. Methylation at numerous sequences was elevated in DNA from poor quality sperm.This is the first report of a broad epigenetic defect associated with abnormal semen parameters. Our results suggest that the underlying mechanism for these epigenetic changes may be improper erasure of DNA methylation during epigenetic reprogramming of the male germ line.

Full Text Available The Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis and Saltwater crocodile (C. porosus are two of the most endangered animals in Thailand. Their numbers have been reduced severely by hunting and habitat fragmentation. A reintroduction plan involving captive-bred populations that are used commercially is important and necessary as a conservation strategy to aid in the recovery of wild populations. Here, the genetic diversity and population structure of 69 individual crocodiles, mostly members of captive populations, were analyzed using both mitochondrial D-loop DNA and microsatellite markers. The overall haplotype diversity was 0.924-0.971 and the mean expected heterozygosity across 22 microsatellite loci was 0.578-0.701 for the two species. This agreed with the star-like shaped topology of the haplotype network, which suggests a high level of genetic diversity. The mean ratio of the number of alleles to the allelic range (M ratio for the populations of both species was considerably lower than the threshold of 0.68, which was interpreted as indicative of a historical genetic bottleneck. Microsatellite markers provided evidence of introgression for three individual crocodiles, which suggest that hybridization might have occurred between C. siamensis and C. porosus. D-loop sequence analysis detected bi-directional hybridization between male and female individuals of the parent species. Therefore, identification of genetically non-hybrid and hybrid individuals is important for long-term conservation management. Relatedness values were low within the captive populations, which supported their genetic integrity and the viability of a breeding and reintroduction management plan. This work constitutes the first step in establishing an appropriate source population from a scientifically managed perspective for an in situ/ex situ conservation program and reintroduction of crocodile individuals to the wild in Thailand.

Global variation in skin pigmentation is one of the most striking examples of environmental adaptation in humans. More than two hundred loci have been identified as candidate genes in model organisms and a few tens of these have been found to be significantly associated with human skin pigmentation in genome-wide association studies. However, the evolutionary history of different pigmentation genes is rather complex: some loci have been subjected to strong positive selection, while others evolved under the relaxation of functional constraints in low UV environment. Here we report the results of a global study of the human tyrosinase gene, which is one of the key enzymes in melanin production, to assess the role of its variation in the evolution of skin pigmentation differences among human populations. We observe a higher rate of non-synonymous polymorphisms in the European sample consistent with the relaxation of selective constraints. A similar pattern was previously observed in the MC1R gene and concurs with UV radiation-driven model of skin color evolution by which mutations leading to lower melanin levels and decreased photoprotection are subject to purifying selection at low latitudes while being tolerated or even favored at higher latitudes because they facilitate UV-dependent vitamin D production. Our coalescent date estimates suggest that the non-synonymous variants, which are frequent in Europe and North Africa, are recent and have emerged after the separation of East and West Eurasian populations.

of natural environments in the evolution of bacterial virulence. Twenty four bacterial virulence genes were analyzed in 46 diverse environmental metagenomic datasets, representing various soils, seawater, freshwater, marine sediments, hot springs, the deep-sea, hypersaline mats, microbialites, gutless worms......The occurrence and distribution of clinically relevant bacterial virulence genes across natural (non-human) environments is not well understood. We aimed to investigate the occurrence of homologs to bacterial human virulence genes in a variety of ecological niches to better understand the role...... in non-human environments point to an important ecological role of the genes for the activity and survival of environmental bacteria. Furthermore, the high degree of sequence conservation between several of the environmental and clinical genes suggests common ancestral origins....

Full Text Available The genetic basis of gene expression variation has long been studied with the aim to understand the landscape of regulatory variants, but also more recently to assist in the interpretation and elucidation of disease signals. To date, many studies have looked in specific tissues and population-based samples, but there has been limited assessment of the degree of inter-population variability in regulatory variation. We analyzed genome-wide gene expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines from a total of 726 individuals from 8 global populations from the HapMap3 project and correlated gene expression levels with HapMap3 SNPs located in cis to the genes. We describe the influence of ancestry on gene expression levels within and between these diversehuman populations and uncover a non-negligible impact on global patterns of gene expression. We further dissect the specific functional pathways differentiated between populations. We also identify 5,691 expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs after controlling for both non-genetic factors and population admixture and observe that half of the cis-eQTLs are replicated in one or more of the populations. We highlight patterns of eQTL-sharing between populations, which are partially determined by population genetic relatedness, and discover significant sharing of eQTL effects between Asians, European-admixed, and African subpopulations. Specifically, we observe that both the effect size and the direction of effect for eQTLs are highly conserved across populations. We observe an increasing proximity of eQTLs toward the transcription start site as sharing of eQTLs among populations increases, highlighting that variants close to TSS have stronger effects and therefore are more likely to be detected across a wider panel of populations. Together these results offer a unique picture and resource of the degree of differentiation among human populations in functional regulatory variation and provide an estimate for

Butyrate-producing bacteria play a key role in colonic health in humans. This review provides an overview of the current knowledge of the diversity, metabolism and microbial ecology of this functionally important group of bacteria. Human colonic butyrate producers are Gram-positive firmicutes, but are phylogenetically diverse, with the two most abundant groups related to Eubacterium rectale/Roseburia spp. and to Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Five different arrangements have been identified for the genes of the central pathway involved in butyrate synthesis, while in most cases butyryl-CoA : acetate CoA-transferase, rather than butyrate kinase, appears to perform the final step in butyrate synthesis. Mechanisms have been proposed recently in non-gut Clostridium spp. whereby butyrate synthesis can result in energy generation via both substrate-level phosphorylation and proton gradients. Here we suggest that these mechanisms also apply to the majority of butyrate producers from the human colon. The roles of these bacteria in the gut community and their influence on health are now being uncovered, taking advantage of the availability of cultured isolates and molecular methodologies. Populations of F. prausnitzii are reported to be decreased in Crohn's disease, for example, while populations of Roseburia relatives appear to be particularly sensitive to the diet composition in human volunteer studies.

Recent work suggests that gene duplications may play an important role in the evolution of immunity genes. Passerine birds, and in particular Sylvioidea warblers, have highly duplicated major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, which are key in immunity, compared to other vertebrates. However, reasons for this high MHC gene copy number are yet unclear. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) allows MHC genotyping even in individuals with extremely duplicated genes. This HTS data can reveal evidence of selection, which may help to unravel the putative functions of different gene copies, i.e. neofunctionalization. We performed exhaustive genotyping of MHC class I in a Sylvioidea warbler, the sedge warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, using the Illumina MiSeq technique on individuals from a wild study population. The MHC diversity in 863 genotyped individuals by far exceeds that of any other bird species described to date. A single individual could carry up to 65 different alleles, a large proportion of which are expressed (transcribed). The MHC alleles were of three different lengths differing in evidence of selection, diversity and divergence within our study population. Alleles without any deletions and alleles containing a 6 bp deletion showed characteristics of classical MHC genes, with evidence of multiple sites subject to positive selection and high sequence divergence. In contrast, alleles containing a 3 bp deletion had no sites subject to positive selection and had low divergence. Our results suggest that sedge warbler MHC alleles that either have no deletion, or contain a 6 bp deletion, encode classical antigen presenting MHC molecules. In contrast, MHC alleles containing a 3 bp deletion may encode molecules with a different function. This study demonstrates that highly duplicated MHC genes can be characterised with HTS and that selection patterns can be useful for revealing neofunctionalization. Importantly, our results highlight the need to consider the

Full Text Available The Amazonian avifauna remains severely understudied relative to that of the temperate zone, and its species richness is thought to be underestimated by current taxonomy. Recent molecular systematic studies using mtDNA sequence reveal that traditionally accepted species-level taxa often conceal genetically divergent subspecific lineages found to represent new species upon close taxonomic scrutiny, suggesting that intraspecific mtDNA variation could be useful in species discovery. Surveys of mtDNA variation in Holarctic species have revealed patterns of variation that are largely congruent with species boundaries. However, little information exists on intraspecific divergence in most Amazonian species. Here we screen intraspecific mtDNA genetic variation in 41 Amazonian forest understory species belonging to 36 genera and 17 families in 6 orders, using 758 individual samples from Ecuador and French Guiana. For 13 of these species, we also analyzed trans-Andean populations from the Ecuadorian Chocó. A consistent pattern of deep intraspecific divergence among trans-Amazonian haplogroups was found for 33 of the 41 taxa, and genetic differentiation and genetic diversity among them was highly variable, suggesting a complex range of evolutionary histories. Mean sequence divergence within families was the same as that found in North American birds (13%, yet mean intraspecific divergence in Neotropical species was an order of magnitude larger (2.13% vs. 0.23%, with mean distance between intraspecific lineages reaching 3.56%. We found no clear relationship between genetic distances and differentiation in plumage color. Our results identify numerous genetically and phenotypically divergent lineages which may result in new species-level designations upon closer taxonomic scrutiny and thorough sampling, although lineages in the tropical region could be older than those in the temperate zone without necessarily representing separate species. In

Usher syndrome is a group of diseases with autosomal recessive inheritance, congenital hearing loss, and the development of retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive retinal degeneration characterized by night blindness and visual field loss over several decades. The causes of Usher syndrome are unknown and no animal models have been available for study. Four human gene sites have been reported, suggesting at least four separate forms of Usher syndrome. We report a mouse model of type I Usher syndr...

and good service. Changes in ... that organises good working conditions and perspective for employees. ..... training to raise awareness for diversity and inclusion at an early stage ... its product/service offers as well as marketing and customer.

knowledge and ability to affect the culture of the organisation ... An important element to define “talent” is that it concerns authentic .... Lim and Noriega (2007) define diversity and ..... organisational key performance indicators, such as customer.

Apr 24, 2013 ... objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of HIV-1 and the prevalence of antiretroviral (ARV) ... individuals in resource limited settings. Key words: ... management of HIV infection even as antiretroviral (ARV).

Aboriginal Australians are one of the more poorly studied populations from the standpoint of human evolution and genetic diversity. Thus, to investigate their genetic diversity, the possible date of their ancestors' arrival and their relationships with neighboring populations, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity in a large sample of Aboriginal Australians. Selected mtDNA single-nucleotide polymorphisms and the hypervariable segment haplotypes were analyzed in 594 Aboriginal Australians drawn from locations across the continent, chiefly from regions not previously sampled. Most (~78%) samples could be assigned to mtDNA haplogroups indigenous to Australia. The indigenous haplogroups were all ancient (with estimated ages >40 000 years) and geographically widespread across the continent. The most common haplogroup was P (44%) followed by S (23%) and M42a (9%). There was some geographic structure at the haplotype level. The estimated ages of the indigenous haplogroups range from 39 000 to 55 000 years, dates that fit well with the estimated date of colonization of Australia based on archeological evidence (~47 000 years ago). The distribution of mtDNA haplogroups in Australia and New Guinea supports the hypothesis that the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians entered Sahul through at least two entry points. The mtDNA data give no support to the hypothesis of secondary gene flow into Australia during the Holocene, but instead suggest long-term isolation of the continent.

ABSTRACT Until fairly recently, genome-wide evolutionary dynamics and within-host diversity were more commonly examined in the context of small viruses than in the context of large double-stranded DNA viruses such as herpesviruses. The high mutation rates and more compact genomes of RNA viruses have inspired the investigation of population dynamics for these species, and recent data now suggest that herpesviruses might also be considered candidates for population modeling. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) and bioinformatics have expanded our understanding of herpesviruses through genome-wide comparisons of sequence diversity, recombination, allele frequency, and selective pressures. Here we discuss recent data on the mechanisms that generate herpesvirus genomic diversity and underlie the evolution of these virus families. We focus on human herpesviruses, with key insights drawn from veterinary herpesviruses and other large DNA virus families. We consider the impacts of cell culture on herpesvirus genomes and how to accurately describe the viral populations under study. The need for a strong foundation of high-quality genomes is also discussed, since it underlies all secondary genomic analyses such as RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), chromatin immunoprecipitation, and ribosome profiling. Areas where we foresee future progress, such as the linking of viral genetic differences to phenotypic or clinical outcomes, are highlighted as well. PMID:29046445

Streptococcus sanguinis is a leading cause of bacterial infective endocarditis, a life-threatening infection of heart valves. S. sanguinis binds to human platelets with high avidity, and this adherence is likely to enhance virulence. Previous studies suggest that a serine-rich repeat adhesin termed SrpA mediates the binding of S. sanguinis to human platelets via its interaction with sialoglycans on the receptor GPIbα. However, in vitro binding assays with SrpA and defined sialoglycans failed to identify specific high-affinity ligands. To improve our understanding of the interaction between SrpA and human platelets, we determined cocrystal structures of the SrpA sialoglycan binding region (SrpA BR ) with five low-affinity ligands: three sialylated trisaccharides (sialyl-T antigen, 3'-sialyllactose, and 3'-sialyl-N-acetyllactosamine), a sialylated tetrasaccharide (sialyl-Lewis X ), and a sialyl galactose disaccharide component common to these sialoglyans. We then combined structural analysis with mutagenesis to further determine whether our observed interactions between SrpA BR and glycans are important for binding to platelets and to better map the binding site for the physiological receptor. We found that the sialoglycan binding site of SrpA BR is significantly larger than the sialoglycans cocrystallized in this study, which suggests that binding of SrpA to platelets either is multivalent or occurs via a larger, disialylated glycan.

Full Text Available When the multinational firms employ human resources from different countries they have to submit to the restrictions concerning cultural differences. The paper is an attempt to show how the human resource management administrates these cultural differences.

When the multinational firms employ human resources from different countries they have to submit to the restrictions concerning cultural differences. The paper is an attempt to show how the human resource management administrates these cultural differences.

CD31 reactivity is generally utilized as a marker of endothelial cells. CD31 immunoreactivity in the developing human kidney revealed that fetal glomerular capillary endothelial cells change their immunohistochemical phenotype during maturation. The aim of this study was to analyze CD31 reactivity in the fetal human kidney in the different stages of intrauterine development: We observed different distribution of CD31-reactive vascular progenitors in the different areas of the developing kidney. In particular, the nephrogenic zone and the renal capsule were characterized by a scarcity of CD31-reactive cells at all gestational ages. These data suggest the hypothesis that nephrogenesis does not need high oxygen levels and confirms a major role of hypoxia in nephrogenesis.

Patterns of association between humans and biodiversity typically show positive, negative, or negative quadratic relationships and can be described by 3 hypotheses: biologically rich areas that support high human population densities co-occur with areas of high biodiversity (productivity); biodiversity decreases monotonically with increasing human activities (ecosystem...

Family diversity and richness showed no significant differences across the sites. The spider species consisted of primarily three functional groups: ground wanderers, web builders and plant wanderers, and showed no within-group differences in abundance between sites. Similarity index between the study sites revealed a ...

Full Text Available Abstract Background Human metapneumovirus (HMPV is an important cause of acute respiratory illness in children. We examined the diversity and molecular evolution of HMPV using 85 full-length F (fusion gene sequences collected over a 20-year period. Results The F gene sequences fell into two major groups, each with two subgroups, which exhibited a mean of 96% identity by predicted amino acid sequences. Amino acid identity within and between subgroups was higher than nucleotide identity, suggesting structural or functional constraints on F protein diversity. There was minimal progressive drift over time, and the genetic lineages were stable over the 20-year period. Several canonical amino acid differences discriminated between major subgroups, and polymorphic variations tended to cluster in discrete regions. The estimated rate of mutation was 7.12 × 10-4 substitutions/site/year and the estimated time to most recent common HMPV ancestor was 97 years (95% likelihood range 66-194 years. Analysis suggested that HMPV diverged from avian metapneumovirus type C (AMPV-C 269 years ago (95% likelihood range 106-382 years. Conclusion HMPV F protein remains conserved over decades. HMPV appears to have diverged from AMPV-C fairly recently.

Background Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is an important cause of acute respiratory illness in children. We examined the diversity and molecular evolution of HMPV using 85 full-length F (fusion) gene sequences collected over a 20-year period. Results The F gene sequences fell into two major groups, each with two subgroups, which exhibited a mean of 96% identity by predicted amino acid sequences. Amino acid identity within and between subgroups was higher than nucleotide identity, suggesting structural or functional constraints on F protein diversity. There was minimal progressive drift over time, and the genetic lineages were stable over the 20-year period. Several canonical amino acid differences discriminated between major subgroups, and polymorphic variations tended to cluster in discrete regions. The estimated rate of mutation was 7.12 × 10-4 substitutions/site/year and the estimated time to most recent common HMPV ancestor was 97 years (95% likelihood range 66-194 years). Analysis suggested that HMPV diverged from avian metapneumovirus type C (AMPV-C) 269 years ago (95% likelihood range 106-382 years). Conclusion HMPV F protein remains conserved over decades. HMPV appears to have diverged from AMPV-C fairly recently. PMID:19740442

Full Text Available The discovery of abundant plasmodesmata at the bundle sheath/phloem interface in Oleaceae (Gamalei, 1974 and Cucurbitaceae (Turgeon et al., 1975 opened the questions whether these plasmodesmata are functional in phloem loading and how widespread is symplasmic loading. Analysis of over 800 dicot species allowed the definition of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ types of the minor vein phloem depending on the abundance of plasmodesmata between companion cells and bundle sheath (Gamalei, 1989; 1990. These types corresponded to potential symplasmic and apoplasmic phloem loaders, respectively; however, this definition covered a spectrum of diverse structures of phloem endings. Here, a review of detailed cytological analyses of minor veins in 320 species from the subclass Asteridae is presented, including data on several cell types and their combinations which have not been reported previously. The percentage of Asteridae species with ‘open’ minor vein cytology which also contain sieve-element-companion cell complexes with ‘closed’ cytology, i.e. that show specialization for both symplasmic and apoplasmic phloem loading, was determined. Along with recent data confirming the dissimilar functional specialization of structurally different parts of minor vein phloem in the stachyose-translocating species Alonsoa meridionalis (Voitsekhovskaja et al., 2009, these findings suggest that apoplasmic loading is indispensable in a large group of species previously classified as putative symplasmic loaders. Altogether, this study provides formal classifications of companion cells and of minor veins, respectively, in 24 families of the Asteridae based on their structural features, opening the way to a close investigation of the relationship between structure and function in phloem loading.

The proteome of liver biopsies from human obese (O) subjects has been compared to those of nonobese (NO) subjects using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). Differentially represented proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS)-based peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) and nanoflow-liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry (nLC-ESI-MS/MS). Overall, 61 gene products common to all of the liver biopsies were identified within 65 spots, among which 25 ones were differently represented between O and NO subjects. In particular, over-representation of short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, Δ(3,5)-Δ(2,4)dienoyl-CoA isomerase, acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase, glyoxylate reductase/hydroxypyruvate reductase, fructose-biphosphate aldolase B, peroxiredoxin I, protein DJ-1, catalase, α- and β-hemoglobin subunits, 3-mercaptopyruvate S-transferase, calreticulin, aminoacylase 1, phenazine biosynthesis-like domain-containing protein and a form of fatty acid-binding protein, together with downrepresentation of glutamate dehydrogenase, glutathione S-transferase A1, S-adenosylmethionine synthase 1A and a form of apolipoprotein A-I, was associated with the obesity condition. Some of these metabolic enzymes and antioxidant proteins have already been identified as putative diagnostic markers of liver dysfunction in animal models of steatosis or obesity, suggesting additional investigations on their role in these syndromes. Their differential representation in human liver was suggestive of their consideration as obesity human biomarkers and for the development of novel antiobesity drugs.

Diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs) are a unique family of retroelements that confer selective advantages to their hosts by accelerating the evolution of target genes through a specialized, error-prone, reverse transcription process. First identified in a Bordetella phage (BPP-1), which mediates the phage tropism specificity by generating variability in an involved gene, DGRs were predicted to be present in a larger collection of viral and bacterial species. A minimal DGR system is co...

Leptospirosis is a highly endemic bacterial zoonosis in French Polynesia (FP). Nevertheless, data on the epidemiology of leptospirosis in FP are scarce. We conducted molecular studies on Leptospira isolated from humans and the potential main animal reservoirs in order to identify the most likely sources for human infection. Wild rats (n = 113), farm pigs (n = 181) and domestic dogs (n = 4) were screened for Leptospira infection in Tahiti, the most populated island in FP. Positive samples were genotyped and compared to Leptospira isolated from human cases throughout FP (n = 51), using secY, 16S and LipL32 sequencing, and MLST analysis. Leptospira DNA was detected in 20.4% of rats and 26.5% of pigs. We identified two Leptospira species and three sequence types (STs) in animals and humans: Leptospira interrogans ST140 in pigs only and L. interrogans ST17 and Leptospira borgpetersenii ST149 in humans and rats. Overall, L. interrogans was the dominant species and grouped into four clades: one clade including a human case only, two clades including human cases and dogs, and one clade including human cases and rats. All except one pig sample showed a unique L. interrogans (secY) genotype distinct from those isolated from humans, rats and dogs. Moreover, LipL32 sequencing allowed the detection of an additional Leptospira genotype in pigs, clearly distinct from the previous ones. Our data confirm rats as a major potential source for human leptospirosis in FP. By contrast to what was expected, farm pigs did not seem to be a major reservoir for the Leptospira genotypes identified in human patients. Thus, further investigations will be required to determine their significance in leptospirosis transmission in FP.

The urban hospital workplace is a dynamic environment that mirrors the cultural and social diversity of the modern city. This paper explores the literature relating to diversity in the workplace and then describes an urban Canadian teaching hospital's comprehensive approach to the promotion of an equitable and inclusive diverse environment. With this goal, four years ago the hospital established an office of Diversity and Human Rights staffed by a social worker. The office provides education, training, policy development and complaints management. The administration also convened a hospital-wide committee to advise on the outcomes, and to plan a process for diversity and human rights organizational change. The committee worked with a social work research consultant to design a qualitative focus group study, currently ongoing, to explore the perspectives of hospital staff. The lessons learned from the process have the potential to increase overall cultural competency of staff that can translate into more sensitive work with patients.

This study examines the genetic affinities of various modern human groupings using a multivariate analysis of morphometric data. Phylogenetic relationships among these groupings are also explored using neighbor-joining analysis of the metric data. Results indicate that the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene fossils from Australasia exhibit a close genetic affinity with early modern humans from the Levant. Furthermore, recent human populations and Upper Paleolithic Europeans share a most recent common ancestor not shared with either the early Australasians or the early Levantine humans. This pattern of genetic and phylogenetic relationships suggests that the early modern humans from the Levant either contributed directly to the ancestry of an early lineage of Australasians, or that they share a recent common ancestor with them. The principal findings of the study, therefore, lend support to the notion of an early dispersal from Africa by a more ancient lineage of modern human prior to 50 ka, perhaps as early as OIS 5 times (76-100 ka).

Molecular and cultivation approaches were employed to study the phylogenetic richness and temporal dynamics of Streptococcus and Veillonella populations in the small intestine. Microbial profiling of human small intestinal samples collected from four ileostomy subjects at four time points displayed

The relative importance of ancient demography and climate in determining worldwide patterns of human within-population phenotypic diversity is still open to debate. Several morphometric traits have been argued to be under selection by climatic factors, but it is unclear whether climate affects the global decline in morphological diversity with increasing geographical distance from sub-Saharan Africa. Using a large database of male and female skull measurements, we apply an explicit framework to quantify the relative role of climate and distance from Africa. We show that distance from sub-Saharan Africa is the sole determinant of human within-population phenotypic diversity, while climate plays no role. By selecting the most informative set of traits, it was possible to explain over half of the worldwide variation in phenotypic diversity. These results mirror those previously obtained for genetic markers and show that ‘bones and molecules’ are in perfect agreement for humans. PMID:19129123

The third planning workshop of the Human Genome Diversity Project was held on the campus of the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, from February 16 through February 18, 1993. The second day of the workshop was devoted to an exploration of the ethical and human-rights implications of the Project. This open meeting centered on three roundtables, involving 12 invited participants, and the resulting discussions among all those present. Attendees and their affiliations are listed in the attached Appendix A. The discussion was guided by a schedule and list of possible issues, distributed to all present and attached as Appendix B. This is a relatively complete, and thus lengthy, summary of the comments at the meeting. The beginning of the summary sets out as conclusions some issues on which there appeared to be widespread agreement, but those conclusions are not intended to serve as a set of detailed recommendations. The meeting organizer is distributing his recommendations in a separate memorandum; recommendations from others who attended the meeting are welcome and will be distributed by the meeting organizer to the participants and to the Project committee.

The conversion of forest to agriculture across the world’s tropics, and the limited space for protected areas, has increased the need to identify effective conservation strategies in human-modified landscapes. Isolated trees are believed to conserve elements of ecological structure, providing micro-sites for conservation in matrix landscapes, and facilitating seed dispersal and forest restoration. Here we investigate the role of isolated Ficus trees, which are of critical importance to tropical forest ecosystems, in conserving frugivore composition and function in a human-modified landscape in Assam, India. We surveyed the frugivorous birds feeding at 122 isolated Ficus trees, 33 fruit trees, and 31 other large trees across a range of 32 km from the nearest intact forest. We found that Ficus trees attracted richer and more abundant assemblages of frugivores than the other tree categories. However, incidence function estimates revealed that forest specialist species decreased dramatically within the first kilometre of the forest edge. Despite this, species richness and functional diversity remained consistent across the human-modified landscape, as habitat generalists replaced forest-dependent frugivores, and accounted for most of the ecological function found in Ficus trees near the forest edge. We recommend that isolated Ficus trees are awarded greater conservation status, and suggest that their conservation can support ecologically functional networks of frugivorous bird communities. PMID:25946032

Southeast Asia (SEA) is enriched with a complex history of peopling. Malaysia, which is located at the crossroads of SEA, has been recognized as one of the hubs for early human migration. To unravel the genomic complexity of the native inhabitants of Malaysia, we sequenced 12 samples from 3 indigenous populations from Peninsular Malaysia and 4 native populations from North Borneo to a high coverage of 28-37×. We showed that the Negritos from Peninsular Malaysia shared a common ancestor with the East Asians, but exhibited some level of gene flow from South Asia, while the North Borneo populations exhibited closer genetic affinity towards East Asians than the Malays. The analysis of time of divergence suggested that ancestors of Negrito were the earliest settlers in the Malay Peninsula, whom first separated from the Papuans ~ 50-33 thousand years ago (kya), followed by East Asian (~ 40-15 kya), while the divergence time frame between North Borneo and East Asia populations predates the Austronesian expansion period implies a possible pre-Neolithic colonization. Substantial Neanderthal ancestry was confirmed in our genomes, as was observed in other East Asians. However, no significant difference was observed, in terms of the proportion of Denisovan gene flow into these native inhabitants from Malaysia. Judging from the similar amount of introgression in the Southeast Asians and East Asians, our findings suggest that the Denisovan gene flow may have occurred before the divergence of these populations and that the shared similarities are likely an ancestral component.

Empirical studies on diversitysuggest that health care organizations have been slow to embrace diversity management. We propose that sensitivity to diversity, at the corporate level, moderates strategic decision making, which influences human resource management practices such as diversity initiatives. This study of 203 hospitals explored the relationships among organizational strategy, organizational sensitivity to diversity, and diversity management practices.

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders(1), and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness(2). However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less

Since the early days of microbiology, more than a century ago, representatives of over 400 different microbial species have been isolated and fully characterized from human gastrointestinal samples. However, during the past decade molecular ecological studies based on ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences

textabstractHomozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is

Decades of animal and human neuroimaging research have identified distinct, but overlapping, striatal zones, which are interconnected with separable corticostriatal circuits, and are crucial for the organization of functional systems. Despite continuous efforts to subdivide the human striatum based on anatomical and resting-state functional connectivity, characterizing the different psychological processes related to each zone remains a work in progress. Using an unbiased, data-driven approach, we analyzed large-scale coactivation data from 5,809 human imaging studies. We (i) identified five distinct striatal zones that exhibited discrete patterns of coactivation with cortical brain regions across distinct psychological processes and (ii) identified the different psychological processes associated with each zone. We found that the reported pattern of cortical activation reliably predicted which striatal zone was most strongly activated. Critically, activation in each functional zone could be associated with distinct psychological processes directly, rather than inferred indirectly from psychological functions attributed to associated cortices. Consistent with well-established findings, we found an association of the ventral striatum (VS) with reward processing. Confirming less well-established findings, the VS and adjacent anterior caudate were associated with evaluating the value of rewards and actions, respectively. Furthermore, our results confirmed a sometimes overlooked specialization of the posterior caudate nucleus for executive functions, often considered the exclusive domain of frontoparietal cortical circuits. Our findings provide a precise functional map of regional specialization within the human striatum, both in terms of the differential cortical regions and psychological functions associated with each striatal zone.

Full Text Available The human rights understood in the sense of fundamental inalienable rights are therefore considered as universal – they apply to everything and egalitarian exist in two ways: as natural or legal rights, both in the rights doctrine in the international practice within the international law, the global and regional institutions, in the state policies and the activities of non from all over the world regardless of peoples’ cultures. manage the ethnic-cultural communities living on the territory of a state often contributes, in fact, to the separation and not to the reunion of peoples, the ideological and political factors acting rather as division factors whereas the affective spiritual connection exists only between the states having deep similarities. For this purpose, serving justice having as a goal the pres on the social feelings of humanity.

Despite great progress in identifying genetic variants that influence human disease, most inherited risk remains unexplained. A more complete understanding requires genome-wide studies that fully examine less common alleles in populations with a wide range of ancestry. To inform the design and interpretation of such studies, we genotyped 1.6 million common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,184 reference individuals from 11 global populations, and sequenced ten 100-kilobase regions in 692 of these individuals. This integrated data set of common and rare alleles, called 'HapMap 3', includes both SNPs and copy number polymorphisms (CNPs). We characterized population-specific differences among low-frequency variants, measured the improvement in imputation accuracy afforded by the larger reference panel, especially in imputing SNPs with a minor allele frequency of human disease, and serves as a step towards a high-resolution map of the landscape of human genetic variation.

Understanding the significance of genetic variants in the noncoding genome is emerging as the next challenge in human genomics. We used the power of 11,257 whole-genome sequences and 16,384 heptamers (7-nt motifs) to build a map of sequence constraint for the human species. This build differed substantially from traditional maps of interspecies conservation and identified regulatory elements among the most constrained regions of the genome. Using new Hi-C experimental data, we describe a strong pattern of coordination over 2 Mb where the most constrained regulatory elements associate with the most essential genes. Constrained regions of the noncoding genome are up to 52-fold enriched for known pathogenic variants as compared to unconstrained regions (21-fold when compared to the genome average). This map of sequence constraint across thousands of individuals is an asset to help interpret noncoding elements in the human genome, prioritize variants and reconsider gene units at a larger scale.

Two initiatives designed to increase diversity in physics, astronomy, and related fields will be described. First, the programs of the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP), including its partnership with the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans (SACNAS) and with the National Society of Black Physicists (NSHP) as well as others will be presented as well as a summary of the outcome of a recent planning meeting supported by the American Physical Society. The basic ingredients of the Fisk/Vanderbilt Master's to PhD Bridge Program will be presented. The program has made Fisk University the number one producer of Master's degrees in physics to African Americans, and Vanderbilt University the number one producer of PhD degrees in physics, astronomy, and materials science to African American students and soon to become the number one producer of PhD degrees in these areas to Hispanic students. Members are being sought for NSHP and partner institutions for the Bridge program.

from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), guar (Cyamopsis tetragonolobus), and Populus trichocarpa catalyze beta-1,4-mannan and glucomannan synthase reactions in vitro. Mannan polysaccharides and homologs of CslA genes appear to be present in all lineages of land plants analyzed to date. In many plants......, the CslA genes are members of extended multigene families; however, it is not known whether all CslA proteins are glucomannan synthases. CslA proteins from diverse land plant species, including representatives of the mono- and dicotyledonous angiosperms, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, were produced...... they are prevalent at cell junctions and in buds. Taken together, these results demonstrate that members of the CslA gene family from diverse plant species encode glucomannan synthases and support the hypothesis that mannans function in metabolic networks devoted to other cellular processes in addition to cell wall...

The objectives of this study were to examine the diversity of Staphylococcus spp. recovered from bovine intramammary infections and humans working in close contact with the animals and to evaluate the susceptibility of the staphylococcal isolates to different antimicrobials. A total of 3,387 milk samples and 79 human nasal swabs were collected from 13 sampling sites in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. In total, 146 Staph. aureus isolates and 102 coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were recovered from clinical and subclinical milk samples. Staphylococcusaureus was isolated from 12 (15.2%) of the human nasal swabs and 95 representative CNS were recovered for further characterization. The CNS were identified using multiplex-PCR assays, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), and tuf gene sequencing. Seven Staphylococcus spp. were identified among the CNS of bovine origin, with Staph.chromogenes (78.4%) predominating. The predominant CNS species recovered from the human nasal swabs was Staph.epidermidis (80%) followed by Staph.chromogenes (6.3%). The antimicrobial susceptibility of all staphylococcal isolates was evaluated using disk diffusion and was supplemented by screening for specific antimicrobial resistance genes. Ninety-eight (67.1%) Staph.aureus isolates of bovine origin were pansusceptible; 39 (26.7%) isolates were resistant to a single class, and 7 (4.8%) isolates were resistant to 2 classes of antimicrobials. Two Staph. aureus (1.4%) isolates were multidrug-resistant. Resistance to penicillin was common, with 28.8% of the bovine and 75% of the human Staph. aureus isolates exhibiting resistance. A similar observation was made with the CNS, where 37.3% of the bovine and 89.5% of the human isolates were resistant to penicillin. Multidrug-resistance was common among the human CNS, with 39% of the isolates exhibiting resistance to 3 or more classes of antimicrobials. The antimicrobial

Human land use causes major changes in species abundance and composition, yet native and exotic species can exhibit different responses to land use change. Native populations generally decline in human-impacted habitats while exotic species often benefit. In this study, we assessed the effects of human land use on exotic and native reptile diversity, including functional diversity, which relates to the range of habitat use strategies in biotic communities. We surveyed 114 reptile communities from localities that varied in habitat structure and human impact level on two Caribbean islands, and calculated species richness, overall abundance and evenness for every plot. Functional diversity indices were calculated using published trait data, which enabled us to detect signs of trait filtering associated with impacted habitats. Our results show that environmental variation among sampling plots was explained by two PCA ordination axes related to habitat structure (i.e. forest or non-forest) and human impact level (i.e. addition of man-made constructions such as roads and buildings). Several diversity indices were significantly correlated with the two PCA axes, but exotic and native species showed opposing responses. Native species reached the highest abundance in forests, while exotic species were absent in this habitat. Human impact was associated with an increase in exotic abundance and species richness, while native species showed no significant associations. Functional diversity was highest in non-forested environments on both islands, and further increased on St. Martin with the establishment of functionally unique exotic species in non-forested habitat. Habitat structure, rather than human impact, proved to be an important agent for environmental filtering of traits, causing divergent functional trait values across forested and non-forested environments. Our results illustrate the importance of considering various elements of land use when studying its impact on

Although human rights are often expressed as universal tenets, the concept was conceived in a particular socio-political and historical context. Conceptualisations and practice of human rights vary across societies, and face numerous challenges. After providing an historical account of the conceptualisation of human rights in Japanese society,…

Full Text Available Abstract Background New and improved antimicrobial countermeasures are urgently needed to counteract increased resistance to existing antimicrobial treatments and to combat currently untreatable or new emerging infectious diseases. We demonstrate that computational comparative genomics, together with experimental screening, can identify potential generic (i.e., conserved across multiple pathogen species and novel virulence-associated genes that may serve as targets for broad-spectrum countermeasures. Results Using phylogenetic profiles of protein clusters from completed microbial genome sequences, we identified seventeen protein candidates that are common to diversehuman pathogens and absent or uncommon in non-pathogens. Mutants of 13 of these candidates were successfully generated in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and the potential role of the proteins in virulence was assayed in an animal model. Six candidate proteins are suggested to be involved in the virulence of Y. pseudotuberculosis, none of which have previously been implicated in the virulence of Y. pseudotuberculosis and three have no record of involvement in the virulence of any bacteria. Conclusion This work demonstrates a strategy for the identification of potential virulence factors that are conserved across a number of human pathogenic bacterial species, confirming the usefulness of this tool.

Full Text Available Most of the Human diseases affecting westernized countries are associated with dysbiosis and loss of microbial diversity in the gut microbiota. The Western way of life, with a wide use of antibiotics and other environmental triggers, may reduce the number of bacterial predators leading to a decrease in microbial diversity of the Human gut. We argue that this phenomenon is similar to the process of ecosystem impoverishment in macro ecology where human activity decreases ecological niches, the size of predator populations and finally the biodiversity. Such pauperization is fundamental since it reverses the evolution processes, drives life backward into diminished complexity, stability and adaptability. A simple therapeutic approach could thus be to reintroduce bacterial predators and restore a bacterial diversity of the host microbiota.

The Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights represents a significant milestone in the history of Law, particularly in the application of International Law to an important area of human activity, namely the medical sciences, the life sciences and the technologies which, linked to both, can be applied to human relations. In parallel with this, and as will be analysed in this article, the Declaration has involved adopting a clear position regarding cultural diversity and pluralism in relation to Biomedicine. In this paper the author highlights the fact that perspectives have been opened which have hardly been explored concerning Biomedicine, such as the recognition of the value and respect which cultural diversity (multiculturalism), economic and social diversity deserve in relation to the issues covered by the Declaration, and the acceptance that the owners of the rights are not only individuals, but can also be groups.

Full Text Available The Americas were the last continent colonized by humans carrying malaria parasites. Plasmodium falciparum from the New World shows very little genetic diversity and greater linkage disequilibrium, compared with its African counterparts, and is clearly subdivided into local, highly divergent populations. However, limited available data have revealed extensive genetic diversity in American populations of another major human malaria parasite, P. vivax.We used an improved sample preparation strategy and next-generation sequencing to characterize 9 high-quality P. vivax genome sequences from northwestern Brazil. These new data were compared with publicly available sequences from recently sampled clinical P. vivax isolates from Brazil (BRA, total n = 11 sequences, Peru (PER, n = 23, Colombia (COL, n = 31, and Mexico (MEX, n = 19.We found that New World populations of P. vivax are as diverse (nucleotide diversity π between 5.2 × 10-4 and 6.2 × 10-4 as P. vivax populations from Southeast Asia, where malaria transmission is substantially more intense. They display several non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions (some of them previously undescribed in genes known or suspected to be involved in antimalarial drug resistance, such as dhfr, dhps, mdr1, mrp1, and mrp-2, but not in the chloroquine resistance transporter ortholog (crt-o gene. Moreover, P. vivax in the Americas is much less geographically substructured than local P. falciparum populations, with relatively little between-population genome-wide differentiation (pairwise FST values ranging between 0.025 and 0.092. Finally, P. vivax populations show a rapid decline in linkage disequilibrium with increasing distance between pairs of polymorphic sites, consistent with very frequent outcrossing. We hypothesize that the high diversity of present-day P. vivax lineages in the Americas originated from successive migratory waves and subsequent admixture between parasite lineages from geographically

The Americas were the last continent colonized by humans carrying malaria parasites. Plasmodium falciparum from the New World shows very little genetic diversity and greater linkage disequilibrium, compared with its African counterparts, and is clearly subdivided into local, highly divergent populations. However, limited available data have revealed extensive genetic diversity in American populations of another major human malaria parasite, P. vivax. We used an improved sample preparation strategy and next-generation sequencing to characterize 9 high-quality P. vivax genome sequences from northwestern Brazil. These new data were compared with publicly available sequences from recently sampled clinical P. vivax isolates from Brazil (BRA, total n = 11 sequences), Peru (PER, n = 23), Colombia (COL, n = 31), and Mexico (MEX, n = 19). We found that New World populations of P. vivax are as diverse (nucleotide diversity π between 5.2 × 10-4 and 6.2 × 10-4) as P. vivax populations from Southeast Asia, where malaria transmission is substantially more intense. They display several non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions (some of them previously undescribed) in genes known or suspected to be involved in antimalarial drug resistance, such as dhfr, dhps, mdr1, mrp1, and mrp-2, but not in the chloroquine resistance transporter ortholog (crt-o) gene. Moreover, P. vivax in the Americas is much less geographically substructured than local P. falciparum populations, with relatively little between-population genome-wide differentiation (pairwise FST values ranging between 0.025 and 0.092). Finally, P. vivax populations show a rapid decline in linkage disequilibrium with increasing distance between pairs of polymorphic sites, consistent with very frequent outcrossing. We hypothesize that the high diversity of present-day P. vivax lineages in the Americas originated from successive migratory waves and subsequent admixture between parasite lineages from geographically diverse sites

Background The Americas were the last continent colonized by humans carrying malaria parasites. Plasmodium falciparum from the New World shows very little genetic diversity and greater linkage disequilibrium, compared with its African counterparts, and is clearly subdivided into local, highly divergent populations. However, limited available data have revealed extensive genetic diversity in American populations of another major human malaria parasite, P. vivax. Methods We used an improved sample preparation strategy and next-generation sequencing to characterize 9 high-quality P. vivax genome sequences from northwestern Brazil. These new data were compared with publicly available sequences from recently sampled clinical P. vivax isolates from Brazil (BRA, total n = 11 sequences), Peru (PER, n = 23), Colombia (COL, n = 31), and Mexico (MEX, n = 19). Principal findings/Conclusions We found that New World populations of P. vivax are as diverse (nucleotide diversity π between 5.2 × 10−4 and 6.2 × 10−4) as P. vivax populations from Southeast Asia, where malaria transmission is substantially more intense. They display several non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions (some of them previously undescribed) in genes known or suspected to be involved in antimalarial drug resistance, such as dhfr, dhps, mdr1, mrp1, and mrp-2, but not in the chloroquine resistance transporter ortholog (crt-o) gene. Moreover, P. vivax in the Americas is much less geographically substructured than local P. falciparum populations, with relatively little between-population genome-wide differentiation (pairwise FST values ranging between 0.025 and 0.092). Finally, P. vivax populations show a rapid decline in linkage disequilibrium with increasing distance between pairs of polymorphic sites, consistent with very frequent outcrossing. We hypothesize that the high diversity of present-day P. vivax lineages in the Americas originated from successive migratory waves and subsequent admixture between

We have considered a novel “rational” gene targeting approach for treating pathologies whose genetic bases are defined using select phytochemicals. We reason that one such potential application of this approach would be conditions requiring immunosuppression such as autoimmune disease and transplantation, where the genetic target is clearly defined; i.e., interleukin-2 and associated T-cell activation. Therefore, we hypothesized that select phytochemicals can suppress T-lymphocyte proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. The immunosuppressive effects of berry extract, curcumin, quercetin, sulforaphane, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), resveratrol, α-tocopherol, vitamin C and sucrose were tested on anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28-activated primary human T-lymphocytes in culture. Curcumin, sulforaphane, quercetin, berry extract and EGCG all significantly inhibited T-cell proliferation, and this effect was not due to toxicity. IL-2 production was also reduced by these agents, implicating this important T-cell cytokine in proliferation suppression. Except for berry extract, these same agents also inhibited mouse splenic T-cell proliferation and IL-2 production. Subsequent in vivo studies revealed that quercetin (but not sulforaphane) modestly suppressed mouse splenocyte proliferation following supplementation of BALB/c mice diets. This effect was especially prominent if corrected for the loss of supplement “recall” as observed in cultured T-cells. These results suggest the potential use of these select phytochemicals for treating autoimmune and transplant patients, and support our strategy of using select phytochemicals to treat genetically-defined pathologies, an approach that we believe is simple, healthy, and cost-effective. PMID:19761891

Full Text Available Summary: Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs are the projection neurons of the retina and transmit visual information to postsynaptic targets in the brain. While this function is shared among nearly all RGCs, this class of cell is remarkably diverse, comprised of multiple subtypes. Previous efforts have identified numerous RGC subtypes in animal models, but less attention has been paid to human RGCs. Thus, efforts of this study examined the diversity of RGCs differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs and characterized defined subtypes through the expression of subtype-specific markers. Further investigation of these subtypes was achieved using single-cell transcriptomics, confirming the combinatorial expression of molecular markers associated with these subtypes, and also provided insight into more subtype-specific markers. Thus, the results of this study describe the derivation of RGC subtypes from hPSCs and will support the future exploration of phenotypic and functional diversity within human RGCs. : In this article, Langer and colleagues present extensive characterization of RGC subtypes derived from human pluripotent stem cells, with multiple subtypes identified by subtype-specific molecular markers. Their results present a more detailed analysis of RGC diversity in human cells and yield the use of different markers to identify RGC subtypes. Keywords: iPSC, retina, retinal ganglion cell, RGC subtype, stem cell, ipRGC, alpha RGC, direction selective RGC, RNA-seq

Full Text Available The concept of sustainability seems fundamental for companies operating worldwide. Human resources are acknowledged to be among the most valuable assets for them. Even though literature shows that Sustainable Human Resource Management is an upcoming topic there is still limited research on the concept due to its initial state. Prior literature reveals a lack in the consideration of systematic links between sustainability and HRM. The purpose of the study is to present the sociological approach to Sustainable Human Resource Management. The paper contributes to the literature linking sustainability to the issues researched in HRM literature. In the introduction it discusses how the notion of sustainability has emerged and developed. Then the sociological approach to Sustainable Human Resource Management is briefly depicted. Next, Diversity Management is presented as the manifestation of the social approach to Sustainable Human Resource Management. To illustrate this approach, the empirical research is presented. It has been conducted among 32 companies operating in Podlasie region (northeastern part of Poland. The research tried to uncover the companies’ knowledge and consciousness of cultural (religious diversity. It also aimed at finding out whether this diversity was seen as an advantage and taken opportunity of or rather neglected in the companies. The results show the reception of diversity among larger and smaller enterprises in the Podlasie region. In general, smaller companies tend to know the religion of the worker more often, and therefore are able to take advantage of it. The larger companies tend to treat faith as a personal matter.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have the potential to revolutionize many biomedical fields ranging from basic research to disease modeling, regenerative medicine, drug discovery, and toxicity testing. A multitude of hESC lines have been derived worldwide since the first 5 lines by Thomson et al. 13 years ago, but many of these are poorly characterized, unavailable, or do not represent desired traits, thus making them unsuitable for application purposes. In order to provide the scientific community with better options, we have derived 12 new hESC lines at New York University from discarded genetically normal and abnormal embryos using the latest techniques. We examined the genetic status of the NYUES lines in detail as well as their molecular and cellular features and DNA fingerprinting profile. Furthermore, we differentiated our hESCs into the tissues most affected by a specific condition or into clinically desired cell types. To our knowledge, a number of characteristics of our hESCs have not been previously reported, for example, mutation for alpha thalassemia X-linked mental retardation syndrome, linkage to conditions with a genetic component such as asthma or poor sperm morphology, and novel combinations of ethnic backgrounds. Importantly, all of our undifferentiated euploid female lines tested to date did not show X chromosome inactivation, believed to result in superior potency. We continue to derive new hESC lines and add them to the NIH registry and other registries. This should facilitate the use of our hESCs and lead to advancements for patient-benefitting applications.

Full Text Available Campylobacter jejuni, a leading cause of gastroenteritis in humans, is a foodborne pathogen that can reside in chickens, pigs, and cattle. Because resistance to fluoroquinolones and macrolides, which are commonly used to treat human infections, has emerged in C. jejuni, it is imperative to continously monitor resistance patterns and examine the genetic variation in strains from human infections and animal reservoirs. Our previous study of C. jejuni from human campylobacteriosis cases showed a significantly higher rate of tetracycline resistance compared to national trends, and identified multilocus sequence type (ST-982 and a history of cattle contact to be associated with tetracycline resistance. To further investigate these associations, we conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the frequency of antimicrobial resistance and examine the genetic diversity of C. jejuni recovered from 214 cattle at three Michigan herds. Overall, the prevalence of C. jejuni was 69.2% (range: 58.6–83.8% for the three farms, and 83.7% (n = 113 of isolates were resistant to one or more antimicrobials. Resistance to only tetracycline predominated among the cattle isolates (n = 89; 65.9% with most resistant strains belonging to ST-459 (96.5% or ST-982 (86.4%. Among the 22 STs identified, STs 459 and 982 were more prevalent in one feedlot, which reported the use of chlortetracycline in feed upon arrival of a new herd. PCR-based fingerprinting demonstrated that the ST-982 isolates from cattle and humans had identical banding patterns, suggesting the possibility of interspecies transmission. Resistance to macrolides (1.5% and ciprofloxacin (16.3% was also observed; 14 of the 22 ciprofloxacin resistant isolates represented ST-1244. Together, these findings demonstrate a high prevalence of antimicrobial resistant C. jejuni in cattle and identify associations with specific genotypes. Continuous monitoring and identification of risk factors for resistance emergence

The nematodes, Trichuris suis and Trichuris trichiura are believed to be two separate but closely related species. The aim of our study was to examine the morphological and genetic diversity of Trichuris spp. recovered from pigs and humans. Sympatric worm material isolated from 10 humans and 5 pigs...... found in pig-derived worms (31% of the human-derived worms, consensus sequence 531 nucleotides long). The results indicated that the nematodes found in pigs belong to a genetically distinct species (T. suis) whereas the nematodes in humans showed considerable genetic variability either related...... to ancestral polymorphism or more recent cross-breeding between T. trichiura and T. suis....

Full Text Available The geostrategic location of North Africa as a crossroad between three continents and as a stepping-stone outside Africa has evoked anthropological and genetic interest in this region. Numerous studies have described the genetic landscape of the human population in North Africa employing paternal, maternal, and biparental molecular markers. However, information from these markers which have different inheritance patterns has been mostly assessed independently, resulting in an incomplete description of the region. In this study, we analyze uniparental and genome-wide markers examining similarities or contrasts in the results and consequently provide a comprehensive description of the evolutionary history of North Africa populations. Our results show that both males and females in North Africa underwent a similar admixture history with slight differences in the proportions of admixture components. Consequently, genome-wide diversity show similar patterns with admixture tests suggesting North Africans are a mixture of ancestral populations related to current Africans and Eurasians with more affinity towards the out-of-Africa populations than to sub-Saharan Africans. We estimate from the paternal lineages that most North Africans emerged ∼15,000 years ago during the last glacial warming and that population splits started after the desiccation of the Sahara. Although most North Africans share a common admixture history, the Tunisian Berbers show long periods of genetic isolation and appear to have diverged from surrounding populations without subsequent mixture. On the other hand, continuous gene flow from the Middle East made Egyptians genetically closer to Eurasians than to other North Africans. We show that genetic diversity of today's North Africans mostly captures patterns from migrations post Last Glacial Maximum and therefore may be insufficient to inform on the initial population of the region during the Middle Paleolithic period.

The geostrategic location of North Africa as a crossroad between three continents and as a stepping-stone outside Africa has evoked anthropological and genetic interest in this region. Numerous studies have described the genetic landscape of the human population in North Africa employing paternal, maternal, and biparental molecular markers. However, information from these markers which have different inheritance patterns has been mostly assessed independently, resulting in an incomplete description of the region. In this study, we analyze uniparental and genome-wide markers examining similarities or contrasts in the results and consequently provide a comprehensive description of the evolutionary history of North Africa populations. Our results show that both males and females in North Africa underwent a similar admixture history with slight differences in the proportions of admixture components. Consequently, genome-wide diversity show similar patterns with admixture tests suggesting North Africans are a mixture of ancestral populations related to current Africans and Eurasians with more affinity towards the out-of-Africa populations than to sub-Saharan Africans. We estimate from the paternal lineages that most North Africans emerged ∼15,000 years ago during the last glacial warming and that population splits started after the desiccation of the Sahara. Although most North Africans share a common admixture history, the Tunisian Berbers show long periods of genetic isolation and appear to have diverged from surrounding populations without subsequent mixture. On the other hand, continuous gene flow from the Middle East made Egyptians genetically closer to Eurasians than to other North Africans. We show that genetic diversity of today's North Africans mostly captures patterns from migrations post Last Glacial Maximum and therefore may be insufficient to inform on the initial population of the region during the Middle Paleolithic period.

Levels of acetylcholinesterase and neurotoxic esterase were measured in brain autopsy material. In tissue from a fatal human poisoning and from hens given 4-8 x unprotected LD50 AChE was highly inhibited and neurotoxic esterase uninhibited. The findings correlate with the inhibitory power of omethoate against these enzymes in vitro. It is concluded that omethoate has negligible potential to cause delayed neuropathy and a published report of human neuropathy due to omethoate is criticised.

Aim Tropical rain forests are often regarded as pristine and undisturbed by humans. In Central Africa, community-wide disturbances by natural causes are rare and therefore current theory predicts that natural gap phase dynamics structure tree species composition and diversity. However, the dominant

Aim: Tropical rain forests are often regarded as pristine and undisturbed by humans. In Central Africa, community-wide disturbances by natural causes are rare and therefore current theory predicts that natural gap phase dynamics structure tree species composition and diversity. However, the dominant

We highlight the social aspects of team creativity by proposing that team creativity is influenced by two types of team social capital: bridging and bonding social capital. Going beyond the structural perspective, we posit that team-level human capital diversity is one of the potential antecedents

in the orangutan and became polymorphic in the lineage leading to gorilla, bonobo, chimpanzee, and human. Interaction between HLA-C1 and HLA-C2 on the surface of trophoblast and killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) expressed by uterine natural killer cells are important regulators of trophoblast invasion....... Evolution of this system in great apes may have been one prerequisite for deep trophoblast invasion but seems to have come at a price. The evidence now suggests that certain combinations of maternal genotype for KIRs and fetal genotype for HLA-C imply an increased risk of preeclampsia, fetal growth...... restriction, and recurrent abortion. The fetal genotype is in part derived from the father providing an explanation for the paternal contribution to reproductive disorders....

. Moreover, selected differentially expressed genes were analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR, and by immunohistochemical staining of craniofacial tissue from human embryos. Osteopontin (SPP1) and other immune related genes were significantly higher expressed in palate tissue from patients with CLP compared to CP...... and palate (CLP). In order to understand the biological basis in these cleft lip and palate subgroups better we studied the expression profiles in human tissue from patients with CL/P. In each of the CL/P subgroups, samples were obtained from three patients and gene expression analysis was performed...... and immunostaining in palatal shelves against SPP1, chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and serglycin (PRG1) in human embryonic craniofacial tissue were positive, supporting a role for these genes in palatal development. However, gene expression profiles are subject to variations during growth and therefore we recommend...

In plants, the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase (HA) is considered to play a crucial role in regulating plant growth and respoding to environment stresses. Multiple paralogous genes encoding different isozymes of HA have been identified and characterized in several model plants, while limited information of the HA gene family is available to date for tomato. Here, we describe the molecular and expression features of eight HA-encoding genes (SlHA1-8) from tomato. All these genes are interrupted by multiple introns with conserved positions. SlHA1, 2, and 4 were widely expressed in all tissues, while SlHA5, 6, and 7 were almost only expressed in flowers. SlHA8, the transcripts of which were barely detectable under normal or nutrient-/salt-stress growth conditions, was strongly activated in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal-colonized roots. Extreme lack of SlHA8 expression in M161, a mutant defective to AM fungal colonization, provided genetic evidence towards the dependence of its expression on AM symbiosis. A 1521-bp SlHA8 promoter could direct the GUS reporter expression specifically in colonized cells of transgenic tobacco, soybean, and rice mycorrhizal roots. Promoter deletion assay revealed a 223-bp promoter fragment of SlHA8 containing a variant of AM-specific cis-element MYCS (vMYCS) sufficient to confer the AM-induced activity. Targeted deletion of this motif in the corresponding promoter region causes complete abolishment of GUS staining in mycorrhizal roots. Together, these results lend cogent evidence towards the evolutionary conservation of a potential regulatory mechanism mediating the activation of AM-responsive HA genes in diverse mycorrhizal plant species.

Deep trophoblast invasion in the placental bed has been considered the hallmark of human pregnancy. It occurs by two routes, interstitial and endovascular, and results in transformation of the walls of the spiral arteries as they traverse the decidua and the inner third of the myometrium. Disturbances in this process are associated with reproductive disorders such preeclampsia. In contrast, trophoblast invasion in Old World monkeys occurs only by the endovascular route and seldom reaches the myometrium. Recently, it was shown that this pattern is maintained in gibbons, but that the human arrangement also occurs in chimpanzee and gorilla. There is an interesting parallel with results from placental immunology regarding the evolution of the major histocompatability complex class I antigen HLA-C and its cognate receptors. HLA-C is not present in Old World monkeys or gibbons. It emerged in the orangutan and became polymorphic in the lineage leading to gorilla, bonobo, chimpanzee, and human. Interaction between HLA-C1 and HLA-C2 on the surface of trophoblast and killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) expressed by uterine natural killer cells are important regulators of trophoblast invasion. Evolution of this system in great apes may have been one prerequisite for deep trophoblast invasion but seems to have come at a price. The evidence now suggests that certain combinations of maternal genotype for KIRs and fetal genotype for HLA-C imply an increased risk of preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and recurrent abortion. The fetal genotype is in part derived from the father providing an explanation for the paternal contribution to reproductive disorders.

Full Text Available Blastocystis subtype 3 (ST3 is a parasitic protist found in the digestive tract of symptomatic and asymptomatic humans around the world. While this parasite exhibits a high prevalence in the human population, its true geographic distribution and global genetic diversity are still unknown. This gap in knowledge limits the understanding of the spread mechanisms, epidemiology, and impact that this parasite has on human populations. Herein, we provided new data on the geographical distribution and genetic diversity of Blastocystis ST3 from a rural human population in Mexico. To do so, we collected and targeted the SSU-rDNA region in fecal samples from this population and further compared its genetic diversity and structure with that previously observed in populations of Blastocystis ST3 from other regions of the planet. Our analyses reveled that diversity of Blastocystis ST3 showed a high haplotype diversity and genetic structure to the world level; however, they were low in the Morelos population. The haplotype network revealed a common widespread haplotype from which the others were generated recently. Finally, our results suggested a recent expansion of the diversity of Blastocystis ST3 worldwide.

In long-term evolution, wildlife in general and primates in particular have formed specific patterns of behavior to adapt to a diverse variety of habitat environments. Current research on positional behavior in non-human primates has been found to explain a great deal about primate adaptability diversification, ecology, anatomy and evolution. Here, we summarize the noted classifications and differences in seasonal, site-specific and sex-age positional behaviors while also reviewing the development and status of non-human primate positional behavior research. This review is intended to provide reference for the future research of non-human primates and aid in further research on behavioral ecology of primates.

We investigated lichen diversity in temperate oak forests using standardized protocols. Forty-eight sites were sampled in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The effects of natural environmental predictors and human influences on lichen diversity (lichen diversity value, species richness) were analysed by means of correlation tests. We found that lichen diversity responded differently to environmental predictors between two regions with different human impact. In the industrial region, air pollution was the strongest factor. In the agricultural to highly forested regions, lichen diversity was strongly influenced by forest age and forest fragmentation. We found that several natural factors can in some cases obscure the effect of human influences. Thus, factors of naturality gradient must be considered (both statistically and interpretively) when studying human impact on lichen diversity. - We detected the different responses of lichens to ecological predictors in polluted and unpolluted areas.

Full Text Available The modern evolutionary paradigm combined with phenomenology forces us to view human consciousness as a product of evolution as well as accepting humans as observers from “within the universe”. The knowledge produced by science has first-person embodied consciousness combined with second-person meaningful communication in language as a prerequisite for third-person fallibilist scientific knowledge. Therefore, the study of consciousness forces us theoretically to encompass the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities in one framework of unrestricted or absolute naturalism. This means to view conscious quale life world with its intentionality as well as the intersubjectivity of culture as a part of nature, and therefore the whole human being as treated in modern bio-medicine. The ‘bio’ is not enough. The crucial question for a transdisciplinary theory of conscious human being is therefore: What is the role of consciousness, signs, and meaning in evolution as well as in cultural development? But this is problematic since the sciences in their present form are without concepts of qualia and meaning, and the European phenomenological-hermeneutic “sciences of meaning” does not have an evolutionary foundation. It is therefore interesting that C.S. Peirce phaneroscopic semiotics - in its modern form of a biosemiotics - was based on a phenomenological basis as well as an evolutionary thinking and ecology of sign webs at the same time drawing on knowledge from the sciences. To develop this 100 year old paradigm it is necessary to supplement it with the knowledge gained from the technologically founded information sciences, as well as systems, and cybernetics in order to produce a transdisciplinary alternative to logical positivism on the one hand and postmodern constructivism on the other. Cybersemiotics constructs such a non-reductionist naturalistic framework in order to integrate third-person knowledge from the exact sciences

The authors examined the accuracy of information elicited from seventy-nine 5- to 7-year-old children about a staged event that included physical contact-touching. Four to six weeks later, children's recall for the event was assessed using an interview protocol analogous to those used in forensic investigations with children. Following the verbal interview, children were asked about touch when provided with human figure drawings (drawings only), following practice using the human figure drawings (drawings with instruction), or without drawings (verbal questions only). In this touch-inquiry phase of the interview, most children provided new information. Children in the drawings conditions reported more incorrect information than those in the verbal questions condition. Forensically relevant errors were infrequent and were rarely elaborated on. Although asking children to talk about innocuous touch may lead them to report unreliable information, especially when human figure drawings are used as aids, errors are reduced when open-ended prompts are used to elicit further information about reported touches. Copyright 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Antimicrobial peptides as part of the mammalian innate immune system target and remove major bacterial pathogens, often through irreversible damage of their cellular membranes. To explore the mechanism by which the important cathelicidin peptide LL-37 of the human innate immune system interacts w...... that these supramolecular structures represent the LL-37-membrane active state. Collectively, our study provides new insights into the fascinating plasticity of LL-37 demonstrated at atomic resolution and opens the venue for LL-37-based molecules as novel antibiotics....

Having split early from Gondwana, Zealandia (now modern New Zealand) escaped discovery until the late 13th century, and therefore remains an important glimpse into a human-free world. Without humans or other land mammals, diverse and peculiar birds evolved in isolation, including several flightless moa species, the giant pouakai eagle (Harpagornis moorei), the kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), and the kakapo parrot (Strigops habroptila). This unique community has fascinated paleoecologists, who have spent almost two centuries devising new ways to glean information from ancient bird remains. In PNAS, Boast et al. (1) apply one recent technological advance, ancient DNA (aDNA) metabarcoding, to confirm previous discoveries and report new details about moa and kakapo diets, parasites, and niches. Their efforts confirm Zealandia was a lot different before humans arrived.

Full Text Available Xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XPA is a protein that binds to damaged DNA, verifies presence of a lesion, and recruits other proteins of the nucleotide excision repair (NER pathway to the site. Though its homologs from yeast, Drosophila, humans, and so forth are well studied, XPA has not so far been reported from protozoa and lower animal phyla. Hydra is a fresh-water cnidarian with a remarkable capacity for regeneration and apparent lack of organismal ageing. Cnidarians are among the first metazoa with a defined body axis, tissue grade organisation, and nervous system. We report here for the first time presence of XPA gene in hydra. Putative protein sequence of hydra XPA contains nuclear localization signal and bears the zinc-finger motif. It contains two conserved Pfam domains and various characterized features of XPA proteins like regions for binding to excision repair cross-complementing protein-1 (ERCC1 and replication protein A 70 kDa subunit (RPA70 proteins. Hydra XPA shows a high degree of similarity with vertebrate homologs and clusters with deuterostomes in phylogenetic analysis. Homology modelling corroborates the very close similarity between hydra and human XPA. The protein thus most likely functions in hydra in the same manner as in other animals, indicating that it arose early in evolution and has been conserved across animal phyla.

Long-term and persistent human disturbances have simultaneously altered the stability and diversity of ecological systems, with disturbances directly reducing functional attributes such as invasion resistance, while eliminating the buffering effects of high species diversity. Theory predicts that this combination of environmental change and diversity loss increases the risk of abrupt and potentially irreversible ecosystem collapse, but long-term empirical evidence from natural systems is lacking. Here we demonstrate this relationship in a degraded but species-rich pyrogenic grassland in which the combined effects of fire suppression, invasion and trophic collapse have created a species-poor grassland that is highly productive, resilient to yearly climatic fluctuations, and resistant to invasion, but vulnerable to rapid collapse after the re-introduction of fire. We initially show how human disturbance has created a negative relationship between diversity and function, contrary to theoretical predictions. Fire prevention since the mid-nineteenth century is associated with the loss of plant species but it has stabilized high-yield annual production and invasion resistance, comparable to a managed high-yield low-diversity agricultural system. In managing for fire suppression, however, a hidden vulnerability to sudden environmental change emerges that is explained by the elimination of the buffering effects of high species diversity. With the re-introduction of fire, grasslands only persist in areas with remnant concentrations of native species, in which a range of rare and mostly functionally redundant plants proliferate after burning and prevent extensive invasion including a rapid conversion towards woodland. This research shows how biodiversity can be crucial for ecosystem stability despite appearing functionally insignificant beforehand, a relationship probably applicable to many ecosystems given the globally prevalent combination of intensive long-term land

Background Recent genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified and replicated several genetic loci associated with the risk of development of coronary artery disease (CAD) in samples from populations of Caucasian and Asian descent. However, only chromosome 9p21 has been confirmed as a major susceptibility locus conferring risk for development of CAD across multiple ethnic groups. The authors aimed to find evidence of further similarities and differences in genetic risk of CAD between Korean and other populations. Methods The authors performed a GWA study comprising 230 cases and 290 controls from a Korean population typed on 490 032 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A total of 3148 SNPs were taken forward for genotyping in a subsequent replication study using an independent sample of 1172 cases and 1087 controls from the same population. Results The association previously observed on chromosome 9p21 was independently replicated (p=3.08e–07). Within this region, the same risk haplotype was observed in samples from both Korea and of Western European descent, suggesting that the causal mutation carried on this background occurred on a single ancestral allele. Other than 9p21, the authors were unable to replicate any of the previously reported signals for association with CAD. Furthermore, no evidence of association was found at chromosome 1q41 for risk of myocardial infarction, previously identified as conferring risk in a Japanese population. Conclusion A common causal variant is likely to be responsible for risk of CAD in Korean and Western European populations at chromosome 9p21.3. Further investigations are required to confirm non-replication of any other cross-race genetic risk factors. PMID:27325954

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is indigenous to the Amazon basin, but is generally believed to have been domesticated in Mesoamerica for the production of chocolate beverage. However, cacao's distribution of genetic diversity in South America is also likely to reflect pre-Columbian human influences that were superimposed on natural processes of genetic differentiation. Here we present the results of a spatial analysis of the intra-specific diversity of cacao in Latin America, drawing on a dataset of 939 cacao trees genotypically characterized by means of 96 SSR markers. To assess continental diversity patterns we performed grid-based calculations of allelic richness, Shannon diversity and Nei gene diversity, and distinguished different spatially coherent genetic groups by means of cluster analysis. The highest levels of genetic diversity were observed in the Upper Amazon areas from southern Peru to the Ecuadorian Amazon and the border areas between Colombia, Peru and Brazil. On the assumption that the last glaciation (22,000-13,000 BP) had the greatest pre-human impact on the current distribution and diversity of cacao, we modeled the species' Pleistocene niche suitability and overlaid this with present-day diversity maps. The results suggest that cacao was already widely distributed in the Western Amazon before the onset of glaciation. During glaciations, cacao populations were likely to have been restricted to several refugia where they probably underwent genetic differentiation, resulting in a number of genetic clusters which are representative for, or closest related to, the original wild cacao populations. The analyses also suggested that genetic differentiation and geographical distribution of a number of other clusters seem to have been significantly affected by processes of human management and accompanying genetic bottlenecks. We discuss the implications of these results for future germplasm collection and in situ, on farm and ex situ conservation of cacao.

Phosphorus (P) deficiency is one of the major nutrient stresses limiting plant growth. The uptake of P by plants is well considered to be mediated by a number of high-affinity phosphate (Pi) transporters belonging to the Pht1 family. Although the Pht1 genes have been extensively identified in several plant species, there is a lack of systematic analysis of the Pht1 gene family in any solanaceous species thus far. Here, we report the genome-wide analysis, phylogenetic evolution and expression patterns of the Pht1 genes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). A total of eight putative Pht1 genes (LePT1 to 8), distributed on three chromosomes (3, 6 and 9), were identified through extensive searches of the released tomato genome sequence database. Chromosomal organization and phylogenetic tree analysis suggested that the six Pht1 paralogues, LePT1/3, LePT2/6 and LePT4/5, which were assigned into three pairs with very close physical distance, were produced from recent tandem duplication events that occurred after Solanaceae splitting with other dicot families. Expression analysis of these Pht1 members revealed that except LePT8, of which the transcript was undetectable in all tissues, the other seven paralogues showed differential but partial-overlapping expression patterns. LePT1 and LePT7 were ubiquitously expressed in all tissues examined, and their transcripts were induced abundantly in response to Pi starvation; LePT2 and LePT6, the two paralogues harboring identical coding sequence, were predominantly expressed in Pi-deficient roots; LePT3, LePT4 and LePT5 were strongly activated in the roots colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi under low-P, but not high-P condition. Histochemical analysis revealed that a 1250-bp LePT3 promoter fragment and a 471-bp LePT5 promoter fragment containing the two elements, MYCS and P1BS, were sufficient to direct the GUS reporter expression in mycorrhizal roots and were limited to distinct cells harboring AM fungal structures

Full Text Available Diversity management is a process intended to create and maintain a positive work environment where the similarities and differences of individuals are valued. The literature on diversity management has mostly emphasized on organization culture; its impact on diversity openness; human resource management practices; institutional environments and organizational contexts to diversity-related pressures, expectations, requirements, and incentives; perceived practices and organizational outcomes related to managing employee diversity; and several other issues. The current study examines the potential barriers to workplace diversity and suggests strategies to enhance workplace diversity and inclusiveness. It is based on a survey of 300 IT employees. The study concludes that successfully managing diversity can lead to more committed, better satisfied, better performing employees and potentially better financial performance for an organization.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent changes to regulatory guidance in the US and Europe have complicated oversight of secondary research by rendering most uses of de-identified data exempt from human subjects oversight. To identify the implications of such guidelines for harms to participants and communities, this paper explores the secondary uses of one de-identified DNA sample collection with limited oversight: the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP-Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain, Fondation Jean Dausset (CEPH Human Genome Diversity Panel. Methods Using a combination of keyword and cited reference search, we identified English-language scientific articles published between 2002 and 2009 that reported analysis of HGDP Diversity Panel samples and/or data. We then reviewed each article to identify the specific research use to which the samples and/or data was applied. Secondary uses were categorized according to the type and kind of research supported by the collection. Results A wide variety of secondary uses were identified from 148 peer-reviewed articles. While the vast majority of these uses were consistent with the original intent of the collection, a minority of published reports described research whose primary findings could be regarded as controversial, objectionable, or potentially stigmatizing in their interpretation. Conclusions We conclude that potential risks to participants and communities cannot be wholly eliminated by anonymization of individual data and suggest that explicit review of proposed secondary uses, by a Data Access Committee or similar internal oversight body with suitable stakeholder representation, should be a required component of the trustworthy governance of any repository of data or specimens.

The glycine amidinotransferase gene (GATM) plays a vital role in energy metabolism in muscle tissues and is associated with multiple clinically important phenotypes. However, the genetic diversity of the GATM gene remains poorly understood within and between human populations. Here we analyzed the 1,000 Genomes Project data through population genetics approaches and observed significant genetic diversity across the GATM gene among various continental human populations. We observed considerable variations in GATM allele frequencies and haplotype composition among different populations. Substantial genetic differences were observed between East Asian and European populations (FST = 0.56). In addition, the frequency of a distinct major GATM haplotype in these groups was congruent with population-wide diversity at this locus. Furthermore, we identified GATM as the top differentiated gene compared to the other statin drug response-associated genes. Composite multiple analyses identified signatures of positive selection at the GATM locus, which was estimated to have occurred around 850 generations ago in European populations. As GATM catalyzes the key step of creatine biosynthesis involved in energy metabolism, we speculate that the European prehistorical demographic transition from hunter-gatherer to farming cultures was the driving force of selection that fulfilled creatine-based metabolic requirement of the populations.

Full Text Available Human ejaculates contain extracellular vesicles (EVs, that to a large extent are considered to originate from the prostate gland, and are often denominated “prostasomes.” These EVs are important for human fertility, for example by promoting sperm motility and by inducing immune tolerance of the female immune system to the spermatozoa. So far, the EVs present in human ejaculate have not been studied in their native state, inside the seminal fluid without prior purification and isolation procedures. Using cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, we performed a comprehensive inventory of human ejaculate EVs. The sample was neither centrifuged, fixed, filtered or sectioned, nor were heavy metals added. Approximately 1,500 extracellular structures were imaged and categorized. The extracellular environment of human ejaculate was found to be diverse, with 5 major subcategories of EVs and 6 subcategories of extracellular membrane compartments, including lamellar bodies. Furthermore, 3 morphological features, including electron density, double membrane bilayers and coated surface, are described in all subcategories. This study reveals that the extracellular environment in human ejaculate is multifaceted. Several novel morphological EV subcategories are identified and clues to their cellular origin may be found in their morphology. This inventory is therefore important for developing future experimental approaches, and to interpret previously published data to understand the role of EVs for human male fertility.

Human genetic diversity in southern Europe is higher than in other regions of the continent. This difference has been attributed to postglacial expansions, the demic diffusion of agriculture from the Near East, and gene flow from Africa. Using SNP data from 2,099 individuals in 43 populations, we show that estimates of recent shared ancestry between Europe and Africa are substantially increased when gene flow from North Africans, rather than Sub-Saharan Africans, is considered. The gradient of North African ancestry accounts for previous observations of low levels of sharing with Sub-Saharan Africa and is independent of recent gene flow from the Near East. The source of genetic diversity in southern Europe has important biomedical implications; we find that most disease risk alleles from genome-wide association studies follow expected patterns of divergence between Europe and North Africa, with the principal exception of multiple sclerosis. PMID:23733930

groups typically would not be able to co-exist in the same bacterium. In fact, a similar pattern was seen in study III in some of the examined K. pneumoniae strains from human infections and from the environment, where also multiple IncFIIk plasmids were present in the same isolates simultaneously...

These three papers were presented at a symposium on rethinking diversity in human resource development (HRD) moderated by Neal Chalofsky at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "Diversity: A Double-Edged Sword" (Sally F. Angus) presents the notion of work force diversity through two differing perspectives in order to…

Full Text Available The reservoir of Plasmodium infection in humans has traditionally been defined by blood slide positivity. This study was designed to characterize the local reservoir of infection in relation to the diverse var genes that encode the major surface antigen of Plasmodium falciparum blood stages and underlie the parasite's ability to establish chronic infection and transmit from human to mosquito.We investigated the molecular epidemiology of the var multigene family at local sites in Gabon, Senegal and Kenya which differ in parasite prevalence and transmission intensity. 1839 distinct var gene types were defined by sequencing DBLα domains in the three sites. Only 76 (4.1% var types were found in more than one population indicating spatial heterogeneity in var types across the African continent. The majority of var types appeared only once in the population sample. Non-parametric statistical estimators predict in each population at minimum five to seven thousand distinct var types. Similar diversity of var types was seen in sites with different parasite prevalences.Var population genomics provides new insights into the epidemiology of P. falciparum in Africa where malaria has never been conquered. In particular, we have described the extensive reservoir of infection in local African sites and discovered a unique var population structure that can facilitate superinfection through minimal overlap in var repertoires among parasite genomes. Our findings show that var typing as a molecular surveillance system defines the extent of genetic complexity in the reservoir of infection to complement measures of malaria prevalence. The observed small scale spatial diversity of var genes suggests that var genetics could greatly inform current malaria mapping approaches and predict complex malaria population dynamics due to the import of var types to areas where no widespread pre-existing immunity in the population exists.

Background The reservoir of Plasmodium infection in humans has traditionally been defined by blood slide positivity. This study was designed to characterize the local reservoir of infection in relation to the diverse var genes that encode the major surface antigen of Plasmodium falciparum blood stages and underlie the parasite's ability to establish chronic infection and transmit from human to mosquito. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigated the molecular epidemiology of the var multigene family at local sites in Gabon, Senegal and Kenya which differ in parasite prevalence and transmission intensity. 1839 distinct var gene types were defined by sequencing DBLα domains in the three sites. Only 76 (4.1%) var types were found in more than one population indicating spatial heterogeneity in var types across the African continent. The majority of var types appeared only once in the population sample. Non-parametric statistical estimators predict in each population at minimum five to seven thousand distinct var types. Similar diversity of var types was seen in sites with different parasite prevalences. Conclusions/Significance Var population genomics provides new insights into the epidemiology of P. falciparum in Africa where malaria has never been conquered. In particular, we have described the extensive reservoir of infection in local African sites and discovered a unique var population structure that can facilitate superinfection through minimal overlap in var repertoires among parasite genomes. Our findings show that var typing as a molecular surveillance system defines the extent of genetic complexity in the reservoir of infection to complement measures of malaria prevalence. The observed small scale spatial diversity of var genes suggests that var genetics could greatly inform current malaria mapping approaches and predict complex malaria population dynamics due to the import of var types to areas where no widespread pre-existing immunity in the population

Urbanization requires the conversion of natural land cover to cover with human-constructed elements and is considered a major threat to biodiversity. Bee populations, globally, are under threat; however, the effect of rapid urban expansion in Southeast Asia on bee diversity has not been investigated. Given the pressing issues of bee conservation and urbanization in Southeast Asia, coupled with complex factors surrounding human-bee coexistence, we investigated bee diversity and human perceptions of bees in four megacities. We sampled bees and conducted questionnaires at three different site types in each megacity: a botanical garden, central business district, and peripheral suburban areas. Overall, the mean species richness and abundance of bees were significantly higher in peripheral suburban areas than central business districts; however, there were no significant differences in the mean species richness and abundance between botanical gardens and peripheral suburban areas or botanical gardens and central business districts. Urban residents were unlikely to have seen bees but agreed that bees have a right to exist in their natural environment. Residents who did notice and interact with bees, even though being stung, were more likely to have positive opinions towards the presence of bees in cities.

Full Text Available Escherichia coli are widely used as indicators of fecal contamination, and in some cases to identify host sources of fecal contamination in surface water. Prevalence, genetic diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility were determined for 600 generic E. coli isolates obtained from surface water and sediment from creeks and channels along the middle Santa Ana River (MSAR watershed of southern California, USA, after a 12 month study. Evaluation of E. coli populations along the creeks and channels showed that E. coli were more prevalent in sediment compared to surface water. E. coli populations were not significantly different (P = 0.05 between urban runoff sources and agricultural sources, however, E. coli genotypes determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE were less diverse in the agricultural sources than in urban runoff sources. PFGE also showed that E. coli populations in surface water were more diverse than in the sediment, suggesting isolates in sediment may be dominated by clonal populations.Twenty four percent (144 isolates of the 600 isolates exhibited resistance to more than one antimicrobial agent. Most multiple resistances were associated with inputs from urban runoff and involved the antimicrobials rifampicin, tetracycline, and erythromycin. The occurrence of a greater number of E. coli with multiple antibiotic resistances from urban runoff sources than agricultural sources in this watershed provides useful evidence in planning strategies for water quality management and public health protection.

Over exploitation and overgrazing are considered major factors for decreasing plant species diversity. However, we do need some more exploration on the types of anthropogenic disturbances responsible for variation in species decline among different regions. Therefore, the current study was conducted in a temperate Hindukush region of Pakistan with the aim to assess human settlements pressure on the diversity of medicinal plants. Field data was collected from 15 plots, of which 5 plots each were randomly selected at three distant locations in derived woodland forest. Near to community plots were heavily disturbed due to natives proximity, 2 kilometer away plots from the native community were moderately disturbed, while 4 kilometer away plots were under the disturbance regime from temporary settlers (Nomads). We have found all 10 studied medicinal plant species at 2 Km distance followed by 8 species found at 4 km distance. Economically important species such as Bergenia ciliata, Paeonia emodi, Podophyllum emodi, Valeriana jatamansi and Viola canescens were completely absent near village. Similarly, density (8.72 n m-2) and species richness (8.2 n 40 m-2) were found significantly highest at 2 km distance than other locations. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) showed that among forest stand structural variables, slope was the influencing variable related to the density of only Bergenia ciliata. In conclusions, moderate disturbance is associated to increase in the diversity of medicinal plants, while high anthropogenic pressures the otherwise. Hence, effective management strategies may be adopted to conserve such precious eroding flora. (author)

Since domestication, a large number of livestock breeds adapted to local conditions have been created by natural and artificial selection, representing one of the most powerful ways in which human groups have constructed niches to meet their need. Although many authors have described local breeds as the result of culturally and environmentally mediated processes, this study, located in mainland Spain, is the first aimed at identifying and quantifying the environmental and human contributions to the spatial structure of local breed diversity, which we refer to as livestock niche. We found that the more similar two provinces were in terms of human population, ecological characteristics, historical ties, and geographic distance, the more similar the composition of local breeds in their territories. Isolation by human population distance showed the strongest effect, followed by isolation by the environment, thus supporting the view of livestock niche as a socio-cultural product adapted to the local environment, in whose construction humans make good use of their ecological and cultural inheritances. These findings provide a useful framework to understand and to envisage the effects of climate change and globalization on local breeds and their livestock niches.

Full Text Available The regional controls of biodiversity patterns have been traditionally evaluated using structural and compositional components at the species level, but evaluation of the functional component at the ecosystem level is still scarce. During the last decades, the role of ecosystem functioning in management and conservation has increased. Our aim was to use satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs, patches of the land-surface with similar carbon gain dynamics to characterize the regional patterns of ecosystem functional diversity and to evaluate the environmental and human controls that determine EFT richness across natural and human-modified systems in temperate South America. The EFT identification was based on three descriptors of carbon gain dynamics derived from seasonal curves of the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI: annual mean (surrogate of primary production, seasonal coefficient of variation (indicator of seasonality and date of maximum EVI (descriptor of phenology. As observed for species richness in the southern hemisphere, water availability, not energy, emerged as the main climatic driver of EFT richness in natural areas of temperate South America. In anthropogenic areas, the role of both water and energy decreased and increasing human intervention increased richness at low levels of human influence, but decreased richness at high levels of human influence.

Tick-borne rickettsioses belong to the important emerging infectious diseases worldwide. We investigated the potential human exposure to rickettsiae by determining their presence in questing ticks collected in an urban park of Budapest and a popular hunting and recreational forest area in southern Hungary. Differences were found in the infectious risk between the two habitats. Rickettsia monacensis and Rickettsia helvetica were identified with sequencing in questing Ixodes ricinus, the only ticks species collected in the city park. Female I. ricinus had a particularly high prevalence of R. helvetica (45%). Tick community was more diverse in the rural habitat with Dermacentor reticulatus ticks having especially high percentage (58%) of Rickettsia raoultii infection. We conclude that despite the distinct eco-epidemiological traits, the risk (hazard and exposure) of acquiring human pathogenic rickettsial infections in both the urban and the rural study sites exists.

The three issues of gender equality, human rights and cultural diversity have dominated my organizational commitments, research, and clinical practice in transcultural psychiatry. These issues are intertwined in many ways and have broad implications for transcultural psychiatry. With increasing globalization, psychiatrists in many countries are likely to be treating patients who have migrated from different cultures and who may have been exposed to a variety of traumatic experiences that have a profound impact on their mental health. Of particular concern is the group of torture survivors and the elucidation of their symptom manifestations, as well as effective therapeutic interventions, which clearly show how human rights issues are linked to research and clinical psychiatry. The analyses of how different ethnic groups use psychiatric services, epitomize how important it is to pay attention to gender aspects in the interpretation of the findings and their therapeutic, as well as policy, implications.

The human pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a crucial regulator of the genes encoding several major cytochrome P450 enzymes and transporters, such as CYP3A4 and MDR1, but its own transcriptional regulation remains unclear. To elucidate the transcriptional mechanisms of human PXR gene, we first endeavored to identify the transcription initiation site of human PXR using 5'-RACE. Five types of 5'-variable transcripts (a, b, c, d, and e) with common exon 2 sequence were found, and comparison of these sequences with the genomic sequence suggested that their 5' diversity is derived from initiation by alternative promoters and alternative splicing. None of the exons found in our study contain any new in-frame coding regions. Newly identified introns IVS-a and IVS-b were found to have CT-AC splice sites that do not follow the GT-AG rule of conventional donor and acceptor splice sites. Of the five types of 5' variable transcripts identified, RT-PCR showed that type-a was the major transcript type. Four transcription initiation sites (A-D) for type-a transcript were identified by 5'-RACE using GeneRacer RACE Ready cDNA (human liver) constructed by the oligo-capping method. Putative TATA boxes were located approximately 30 bp upstream from the transcriptional start sites of the major transcript (C) and the longest minor transcript (A) expressed in the human liver. These results indicate that the initiation of transcription of human PXR is more complex than previously reported.

An inflatable lunar/Mars analog habitat (ILMAH), simulated closed system isolated by HEPA filtration, mimics International Space Station (ISS) conditions and future human habitation on other planets except for the exchange of air between outdoor and indoor environments. The ILMAH was primarily commissioned to measure physiological, psychological, and immunological characteristics of human inhabiting in isolation, but it was also available for other studies such as examining its microbiological aspects. Characterizing and understanding possible changes and succession of fungal species is of high importance since fungi are not only hazardous to inhabitants but also deteriorate the habitats. Observing the mycobiome changes in the presence of human will enable developing appropriate countermeasures with reference to crew health in a future closed habitat. Succession of fungi was characterized utilizing both traditional and state-of-the-art molecular techniques during the 30-day human occupation of the ILMAH. Surface samples were collected at various time points and locations to observe both the total and viable fungal populations of common environmental and opportunistic pathogenic species. To estimate the cultivable fungal population, potato dextrose agar plate counts method was utilized. The internal transcribed spacer region-based iTag Illumina sequencing was employed to measure the community structure and fluctuation of the mycobiome over time in various locations. Treatment of samples with propidium monoazide (PMA; a DNA intercalating dye for selective detection of viable microbial populations) had a significant effect on the microbial diversity compared to non-PMA-treated samples. Statistical analysis confirmed that viable fungal community structure changed (increase in diversity and decrease in fungal burden) over the occupation time. Samples collected at day 20 showed distinct fungal profiles from samples collected at any other time point (before or after

The continuing prevalence of a highly heritable and hypo-reproductive extreme tail of a human neurobehavioral quantitative diversitysuggests the possibility that the reproductive majority retains the genetic mechanism for the extremes. From the perspective of stochastic epistasis, the effect of an epistatic modifier variant can randomly vary in both phenotypic value and effect direction among the careers depending on the genetic individuality, and the modifier careers are ubiquitous in the population distribution. The neutrality of the mean genetic effect in the careers warrants the survival of the variant under selection pressures. Functionally or metabolically related modifier variants make an epistatic network module and dozens of modules may be involved in the phenotype. To assess the significance of stochastic epistasis, a simplified module-based model was employed. The individual repertoire of the modifier variants in a module also participates in the genetic individuality which determines the genetic contribution of each modifier in the career. Because the entire contribution of a module to the phenotypic outcome is consequently unpredictable in the model, the module effect represents the total contribution of the related modifiers as a stochastic unit in the simulations. As a result, the intrinsic compatibility between distributional robustness and quantitative changeability could mathematically be simulated using the model. The artificial normal distribution shape in large-sized simulations was preserved in each generation even if the lowest fitness tail was un-reproductive. The robustness of normality beyond generations is analogous to the real situations of human complex diversity including neurodevelopmental conditions. The repeated regeneration of the un-reproductive extreme tail may be inevitable for the reproductive majority's competence to survive and change, suggesting implications of the extremes for others. Further model-simulations to

Full Text Available Our understanding of how antibodies are generated and function could help develop effective vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics against viruses such as HIV-1, SARS Coronavirus (CoV, and Hendra and Nipah viruses (henipaviruses. Although broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs against the HIV-1 were observed in patients, elicitation of such bnAbs remains a major challenge when compared to other viral targets. We previously hypothesized that HIV-1 could have evolved a strategy to evade the immune system due to absent or very weak binding of germline antibodies to the conserved epitopes that may not be sufficient to initiate and/or maintain an effective immune response. To further explore our hypothesis, we used the 454 sequence analysis of a large naïve library of human IgM antibodies which had been used for selecting antibodies against SARS Coronavirus (CoV receptor-binding domain (RBD, and soluble G proteins (sG of Hendra and Nipah viruses (henipaviruses. We found that the human IgM repertoires from the 454 sequencing have diverse germline usages, recombination patterns, junction diversity and a lower extent of somatic mutation. In this study, we identified germline intermediates of antibodies specific to HIV-1 and other viruses as observed in normal individuals, and compared their genetic diversity and somatic mutation level along with available structural and functional data. Further computational analysis will provide framework for understanding the underlying genetic and molecular determinants related to maturation pathways of antiviral bnAbs that could be useful for applying novel approaches to the design of effective vaccine immunogens and antibody-based therapeutics.

Many research institutions and professional societies are looking to enhance the diversity of their members, employees, and scientists. To do this, their efforts often focus on recruitment and retention of minority employees and employees from protected classes (e.g., race, religion, sex, age); however, recruitment and retention efforts can prove difficult and do not...

, sequences corresponding to the shared promoter region of the CYPT family were identified at 39 loci. Most loci were located immediately upstream of genes belonging to the VCX/Y, SPANX, or CSAG gene families. Sequence comparison of the loci revealed a conserved CYPT promoter-like (CPL) element featuring TATA...... cell types. The genomic regions harboring the gene families were rich in direct and inverted segmental duplications (SD), which may facilitate gene conversion and rapid evolution. The conserved CPL and the common expression profiles suggest that the human VCX/Y, SPANX, and CSAG2 gene families together......Many testis-specific genes from the sex chromosomes are subject to rapid evolution, which can make it difficult to identify murine genes in the human genome. The murine CYPT gene family includes 15 members, but orthologs were undetectable in the human genome. However, using refined homology search...

Members of the phylum Synergistetes have been demonstrated in several environmental ecosystems and mammalian microflorae by culture-independent methods. In the past few years, the clinical relevance of some uncultivated phylotypes has been demonstrated in endodontic infections, and uncultured Synergistetes have been demonstrated in human mouth, gut and skin microbiota. However, Synergistetes are rarely cultured from human samples, and only 17 isolates are currently reported. Twelve members of Synergistetes isolated in the course of various infectious processes, including 3 Jonquetella anthropi, 2 Cloacibacillus evryensis, 2 Pyramidobacter piscolens and 5 unidentified strains, as well as 56 clones obtained by specific PCR from the normal vaginal microflora, were studied. 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny showed that the clones were grouped into 3 clusters, corresponding to the genus Jonquetella, P. piscolens and one novel Synergistetes taxon. The presence and diversity of Synergistetes were reported for the first time in the vaginal microflora. Synergistetes were found in healthy patients, suggesting that they could play a functional role in human microflorae, but may also act as opportunistic pathogens. Studying the phylogenetic relationships between environmental and mammalian strains and clones revealed clearly delineated independent lineages according to the origin of the sequences. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Full Text Available One of the fundamental issues in the microbiome research is characterization of the healthy human microbiota. Recent studies have elucidated substantial divergences in the microbiome structure between healthy individuals from different race and ethnicity. This review provides a comprehensive account of such geography, ethnicity or life-style-specific variations in healthy microbiome at five major body habitats—Gut, Oral-cavity, Respiratory Tract, Skin, and Urogenital Tract (UGT. The review focuses on the general trend in the human microbiome evolution—a gradual transition in the gross compositional structure along with a continual decrease in diversity of the microbiome, especially of the gut microbiome, as the human populations passed through three stages of subsistence like foraging, rural farming and industrialized urban western life. In general, gut microbiome of the hunter-gatherer populations is highly abundant with Prevotella, Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes, Clostridiales, Ruminobacter etc., while those of the urban communities are often enriched in Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, and Firmicutes. The oral and skin microbiome are the next most diverse among different populations, while respiratory tract and UGT microbiome show lesser variations. Higher microbiome diversity is observed for oral-cavity in hunter-gatherer group with higher prevalence of Haemophilus than agricultural group. In case of skin microbiome, rural and urban Chinese populations show variation in abundance of Trabulsiella and Propionibacterium. On the basis of published data, we have characterized the core microbiota—the set of genera commonly found in all populations, irrespective of their geographic locations, ethnicity or mode of subsistence. We have also identified the major factors responsible for geography-based alterations in microbiota; though it is not yet clear which factor plays a dominant role in shaping the microbiome—nature or nurture, host genetics

If human culture emerges from the modal personality of a population, can global variation in parasitism that affects personality lead to cultural diversity among nations? The answer could help explain why people seem to vary so much from one land to another. Thomas et al. (2005) review how parasites manipulate behaviour, including human behaviour. To quote them, “The rabies virus lives in the brain, affording the virus ample opportunity to directly affect host behaviour. Rabid animals do show changes in behaviour, including increased aggression and biting.” Rabies affects a wide range of mammals and the aggressive biting associated with furious rabies appears to increase transmission. The personality transformation of infected humans can be horrifying, transforming loved ones into thrashing, baying beasts. Not coincidentally, in Europe, past periods of rabies outbreaks correspond to increases in werewolf trials. Although rabies can have a dramatic effect, the present rarity of human rabies cases and the availability of a vaccine, means that the behavioural effects of rabies are primarily an illustrative curiosity.

Full Text Available This paper reports on the findings of an ecological survey conducted in Ngumburuni Forest Reserve, a biodiversity rich forest reserve within the coastal forests of Tanzania. The main goal of this study was to determine the influence of uncontrolled anthropogenic activities on tree species diversity and composition within the forest ecosystem. It was revealed that economic activities including logging, charcoaling, and shifting cultivation were the most important disturbing activities affecting ecological functioning and biodiversity integrity of the forest. Further to this, we noted that the values of species diversity, composition, and regeneration potential within the undisturbed forest areas were significantly different from those in heavily disturbed areas. These observations confirm that the ongoing human activities have already caused size quality degradation of useful plants, enhanced species diversification impacts to the forest ecosystem, and possibly negatively affected the livelihoods of the adjacent local communities. Despite these disturbances, Ngumburuni forest reserve still holds important proportions of both endemic and threatened animal and plant species. The study suggests urgent implementation of several conservation measures in order to limit accessibility to the forest resources so as to safeguard the richness and abundance of useful biodiversity stocks in the reserve.

The study was undertaken to determine clonal relationship and genetic diversity of the human strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis isolated from 1995 to 2002 from different parts of Malaysia. Antimicrobial susceptibility test, plasmid profiling and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis were applied to analyse 65 human isolates of S. Enteritidis obtained over an eight year period from different parts of Malaysia. Four nonhuman isolates were included for comparison. A total of 14 distinct XbaI-pulsed-field profiles (PFPs) were observed, although a single PFP X1 was predominant and this particular clone was found to be endemic in Malaysia. The incidence of drug resistant S. Enteritidis remained relatively low with only 37% of the strains analysed being resistant to one or more antimicrobial agents. All except one resistant strain carried at least one plasmid ranging in size from 3.7 to 62 MDa giving nine plasmid profiles. The three isolates from raw milk and one from well-water had similar PFPs to that of the human isolates. Salmonella Enteritidis strains were more diverse than was previously thought. Fourteen subtypes were noted although one predominant clone persisted in Malaysia. The combination of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, plasmid profiling and antibiograms provided additional discrimination to the highly clonal strains of S. Enteritidis. This is the first report to assess the genotypes of the predominant clinical S. Enteritidis in different parts of the country. As S. Enteritidis is highly endemic in Malaysia, the data generated would be useful for tracing the source during outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the study area.

There are more generations in today's workforce than ever before, which has the possibility to create challenges for Human Resource professionals. The purpose of this article is to interrogate existing stereotypes and generalities about the characteristics of different generations with respect to the workplace, and to offer suggestions for…

Full Text Available Each day presents a new set of challenges and risks to companies operating in this age ofboth a global economy and of multiculturalism, i.e. a fast-changing marketplace. Globalcompetition and escalating economic pressures make the business environment bothdynamic and difficult, especially given the workforce diversity which has to be managed soas to achieve the highest levels of task performance and job satisfaction; managers must beprepared to respect alternative cultures and value diversity. Based on this background ourpaper has as starting point the consideration that organizations are seeking out methods torefine their operations in order to navigate often-difficult economic terrain effectively,analyzing the organizations’ ability to being responsive to changing market conditions,competitive threats, and new market opportunities, therefore focusing on an organization’screative and innovative ability, highlighting the people component of a business process, aswith so much emphasis on automation, it’s easy to overlook the human element, anoversight which – in most cases – hinders efficient business process management.Considering that processes don’t do work, but people do, our research highlights the factthat a “want to motivate” attitude by the employee can be encouraged, even if pastmanagerial efforts have rather concentrated on “how to motivate” the employee, trying toshed some light on how BPM with a hint of the Six Sigma method offers a clearer path toan increasing number of organizations hoping to best the challenges they have to face, thisoften translating into workforce motivation and retention, by creating positive workenvironments in which the cultural and demographic diversity of members helps to createcompetitive advantage.

Full Text Available Ribosome biogenesis is a highly regulated, essential cellular process. Although studies in yeast have established some of the biological principles of ribosome biogenesis, many of the intricacies of its regulation in higher eukaryotes remain unknown. To understand how ribosome biogenesis is globally integrated in human cells, we conducted a genome-wide siRNA screen for regulators of nucleolar number. We found 139 proteins whose depletion changed the number of nucleoli per nucleus from 2–3 to only 1 in human MCF10A cells. Follow-up analyses on 20 hits found many (90% to be essential for the nucleolar functions of rDNA transcription (7, pre-ribosomal RNA (pre-rRNA processing (16, and/or global protein synthesis (14. This genome-wide analysis exploits the relationship between nucleolar number and function to discover diverse cellular pathways that regulate the making of ribosomes and paves the way for further exploration of the links between ribosome biogenesis and human disease.

Full Text Available Ecological gradients have long been recognized as important regions for diversification and speciation. However, little attention has been paid to the evolutionary consequences or conservation implications of human activities that fundamentally change the environmental features of such gradients. Here we show that recent deforestation in West Africa has homogenized the rainforest-savanna gradient, causing a loss of adaptive phenotypic diversity in a common rainforest bird, the little greenbul (Andropadus virens. Previously, this species was shown to exhibit morphological and song divergence along this gradient in Central Africa. Using satellite-based estimates of forest cover, recent morphological data, and historical data from museum specimens collected prior to widespread deforestation, we show that the gradient has become shallower in West Africa and that A. virens populations there have lost morphological variation in traits important to fitness. In contrast, we find no loss of morphological variation in Central Africa where there has been less deforestation and gradients have remained more intact. While rainforest deforestation is a leading cause of species extinction, the potential of deforestation to flatten gradients and inhibit rainforest diversification has not been previously recognized. More deforestation will likely lead to further flattening of the gradient and loss of diversity, and may limit the ability of species to persist under future environmental conditions.

Full Text Available We studied skin microbiota present in three skin sites (forearm, axilla, scalp in men from six ethnic groups living in New York City.Samples were obtained at baseline and after four days following use of neutral soap and stopping regular hygiene products, including shampoos and deodorants. DNA was extracted using the MoBio Power Lyzer kit and 16S rRNA gene sequences determined on the IIlumina MiSeq platform, using QIIME for analysis.Our analysis confirmed skin swabbing as a useful method for sampling different areas of the skin because DNA concentrations and number of sequences obtained across subject libraries were similar. We confirmed that skin location was the main factor determining the composition of bacterial communities. Alpha diversity, expressed as number of species observed, was greater in arm than on scalp or axilla in all studied groups. We observed an unexpected increase in α-diversity on arm, with similar tendency on scalp, in the South Asian group after subjects stopped using their regular shampoos and deodorants. Significant differences at phylum and genus levels were observed between subjects of the different ethnic origins at all skin sites.We conclude that ethnicity and particular soap and shampoo practices are secondary factors compared to the ecological zone of the human body in determining cutaneous microbiota composition.

Full Text Available Viruses are a crucial component of the human microbiome, but large population sizes, high sequence diversity, and high frequencies of novel genes have hindered genomic analysis by high-throughput sequencing. Here we investigate approaches to metagenomic assembly to probe genome structure in a sample of 5.6 Gb of gut viral DNA sequence from six individuals. Tests showed that a new pipeline based on DeBruijn graph assembly yielded longer contigs that were able to recruit more reads than the equivalent non-optimized, single-pass approach. To characterize gene content, the database of viral RefSeq proteins was compared to the assembled viral contigs, generating a bipartite graph with functional cassettes linking together viral contigs, which revealed a high degree of connectivity between diverse genomes involving multiple genes of the same functional class. In a second step, open reading frames were grouped by their co-occurrence on contigs in a database-independent manner, revealing conserved cassettes of co-oriented ORFs. These methods reveal that free-living bacteriophages, while usually dissimilar at the nucleotide level, often have significant similarity at the level of encoded amino acid motifs, gene order, and gene orientation. These findings thus connect contemporary metagenomic analysis with classical studies of bacteriophage genomic cassettes. Software is available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/optitdba/.

Full Text Available This study was conducted to provide information on the genetic diversity of human parvovirus B19 (B19V circulating in the municipality of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Southeast Brazil during 1996–2006, a period with two distinct outbreaks of B19V infection: 1999–2000 and 2004–2005. A total of 27 sera from patients with erythema infectiosum and five sera from HIV-infected patients that tested positive for B19V DNA during the study period were analyzed. To genotype B19V strains, a semi-nested PCR for partial amplification of the capsid gene was performed and sequence analysis revealed that 31 sequences belonged to subgenotype 1a (G1a of the main genotype 1 and one sequence was characterized as subgenotype 3b (G3b. The phylogenetic tree supported the division of the G1a into two well-defined clades with 1.3% of divergence. The low diversity of the G1a strains may be explained by the fact that all patients had acute B19V infection and 30/32 sera were collected during two distinct outbreaks. The G3b strain was from an HIV-infected patient who seroconverted to anti-B19 IgG antibodies in September/2005. This is the first report of G3b in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Full Text Available The TGF-b superfamily cytokine MIC-1/GDF15 circulates in the blood of healthy humans. Its levels rise substantially in cancer and other diseases and this may sometimes lead to development of an anorexia/cachexia syndrome. This is mediated by a direct action of MIC-1/GDF15 on feeding centres in the hypothalamus and brainstem. More recent studies in germline gene deleted mice also suggest that this cytokine may play a role in physiological regulation of energy homeostasis. To further characterize the role of MIC-1/GDF15 in physiological regulation of energy homeostasis in man, we have examined diurnal and food associated variation in serum levels and whether variation in circulating levels relate to BMI in human monozygotic twin pairs. We found that the within twin pair differences in serum MIC-1/GDF15 levels were significantly correlated with within twin pair differences in BMI, suggesting a role for MIC-1/GDF15 in the regulation of energy balance in man. MIC-1/GDF15 serum levels altered slightly in response to a meal, but comparison with variation its serum levels over a 24 hour period suggested that these changes are likely to be due to bimodal diurnal variation which can alter serum MIC-1/GDF15 levels by about plus or minus 10% from the mesor. The lack of a rapid and substantial postprandial increase in MIC-1/GDF15 serum levels suggests that MIC1/GDF15 is unlikely to act as a satiety factor. Taken together, our findings suggest that MIC-1/GDF15 may be a physiological regulator of energy homeostasis in man, most probably due to actions on long-term regulation of energy homeostasis.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristic of workloads on human care worker with the introduction of IT system, and suggested the support measures for KAIZEN in Japan. The investigation method is workflow line and hearing with a focus on work observation. The objects were 8 human care workers of the acute hospital that introduced an electronic system. By the introduction of the electronic chart, the nurse station sojourn time decreased, sickroom sojourn time increased, and time about direct nursing care to a patient increased. In addition, access to patient information became easy, and the offer of the health care service based on correct information came to be possible in real time. By The point of workflow line, it was effect that moving lengths decreased in order to install the electronic chart in patients' rooms. Though, it was a problem that it hasn't formed where to place the instruments such as sphygmomanometer, clinical thermometer and others.

Full Text Available Olfactory receptors (ORs, which are involved in odorant recognition, form the largest mammalian protein superfamily. The genomic content of OR genes is considerably reduced in humans, as reflected by the relatively small repertoire size and the high fraction ( approximately 55% of human pseudogenes. Since several recent low-resolution surveys suggested that OR genomic loci are frequently affected by copy-number variants (CNVs, we hypothesized that CNVs may play an important role in the evolution of the human olfactory repertoire. We used high-resolution oligonucleotide tiling microarrays to detect CNVs across 851 OR gene and pseudogene loci. Examining genomic DNA from 25 individuals with ancestry from three populations, we identified 93 OR gene loci and 151 pseudogene loci affected by CNVs, generating a mosaic of OR dosages across persons. Our data suggest that approximately 50% of the CNVs involve more than one OR, with the largest CNV spanning 11 loci. In contrast to earlier reports, we observe that CNVs are more frequent among OR pseudogenes than among intact genes, presumably due to both selective constraints and CNV formation biases. Furthermore, our results show an enrichment of CNVs among ORs with a close human paralog or lacking a one-to-one ortholog in chimpanzee. Interestingly, among the latter we observed an enrichment in CNV losses over gains, a finding potentially related to the known diminution of the human OR repertoire. Quantitative PCR experiments performed for 122 sampled ORs agreed well with the microarray results and uncovered 23 additional CNVs. Importantly, these experiments allowed us to uncover nine common deletion alleles that affect 15 OR genes and five pseudogenes. Comparison to the chimpanzee reference genome revealed that all of the deletion alleles are human derived, therefore indicating a profound effect of human-specific deletions on the individual OR gene content. Furthermore, these deletion alleles may be used

Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira for which rats are considered as the main reservoir. Disease incidence is higher in tropical countries, especially in insular ecosystems. Our objectives were to determine the current burden of leptospirosis in Seychelles, a country ranking first worldwide according to historical data, to establish epidemiological links between animal reservoirs and human disease, and to identify drivers of transmission. A total of 223 patients with acute febrile symptoms of unknown origin were enrolled in a 12-months prospective study and tested for leptospirosis through real-time PCR, IgM ELISA and MAT. In addition, 739 rats trapped throughout the main island were investigated for Leptospira renal carriage. All molecularly confirmed positive samples were further genotyped. A total of 51 patients fulfilled the biological criteria of acute leptospirosis, corresponding to an annual incidence of 54.6 (95% CI 40.7-71.8) per 100,000 inhabitants. Leptospira carriage in Rattus spp. was overall low (7.7%) but dramatically higher in Rattus norvegicus (52.9%) than in Rattus rattus (4.4%). Leptospira interrogans was the only detected species in both humans and rats, and was represented by three distinct Sequence Types (STs). Two were novel STs identified in two thirds of acute human cases while noteworthily absent from rats. This study shows that human leptospirosis still represents a heavy disease burden in Seychelles. Genotype data suggests that rats are actually not the main reservoir for human disease. We highlight a rather limited efficacy of preventive measures so far implemented in Seychelles. This could result from ineffective control measures of excreting animal populations, possibly due to a misidentification of the main contaminating reservoir(s). Altogether, presented data stimulate the exploration of alternative reservoir animal hosts.

Full Text Available Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira for which rats are considered as the main reservoir. Disease incidence is higher in tropical countries, especially in insular ecosystems. Our objectives were to determine the current burden of leptospirosis in Seychelles, a country ranking first worldwide according to historical data, to establish epidemiological links between animal reservoirs and human disease, and to identify drivers of transmission.A total of 223 patients with acute febrile symptoms of unknown origin were enrolled in a 12-months prospective study and tested for leptospirosis through real-time PCR, IgM ELISA and MAT. In addition, 739 rats trapped throughout the main island were investigated for Leptospira renal carriage. All molecularly confirmed positive samples were further genotyped.A total of 51 patients fulfilled the biological criteria of acute leptospirosis, corresponding to an annual incidence of 54.6 (95% CI 40.7-71.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. Leptospira carriage in Rattus spp. was overall low (7.7% but dramatically higher in Rattus norvegicus (52.9% than in Rattus rattus (4.4%. Leptospira interrogans was the only detected species in both humans and rats, and was represented by three distinct Sequence Types (STs. Two were novel STs identified in two thirds of acute human cases while noteworthily absent from rats.This study shows that human leptospirosis still represents a heavy disease burden in Seychelles. Genotype data suggests that rats are actually not the main reservoir for human disease. We highlight a rather limited efficacy of preventive measures so far implemented in Seychelles. This could result from ineffective control measures of excreting animal populations, possibly due to a misidentification of the main contaminating reservoir(s. Altogether, presented data stimulate the exploration of alternative reservoir animal hosts.

Full Text Available Many states appear to turn instinctively to hard power resources when confronted with a terrorist threat. Yet existing research on violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism suggests that such responses might well exacerbate the problem. Terrorist groups actively seek to exploit the push-pull dynamic that drives radicalisation and violent extremism, while one case study after the other indicates that states thereby appear to play actively into their hands. Social science research suggests that international human rights norms assist compliant states to moderate responses, build legitimacy, and ultimately craft effective counterterrorism strategies. A close reading of the literature on radicalisation and terrorist group formation offers qualitative evidence to support this conclusion.

Many tandemly repeated minisatellite loci display extreme levels of length variation as a consequence of high rates of spontaneous germline mutation altering repeat copy number. Direct screening for new allele lengths by small-pool PCR has shown that instability at the human minisatellite locus MS205 (D16S309) is largely germline specific and usually results in the gain or loss of just a few repeat units. Structural analysis of the order of variant repeats has shown that these events occur preferentially at one end of the tandem array and can result in complex rearrangements including the inter-allelic transfer of repeat units. In contrast, putative mutants recovered from somatic DNA occur at a substantially lower rate and are simple and non-polar in nature. Germline mutation rates vary considerably between alleles, consistent with regulation occurring in cis. Although examination of DNA sequence polymorphisms immediately flanking the minisatellite reveals no definitive associations with germline mutation rate variation, differences in rate may be paralleled by changes in mutation spectrum. These findings help to explain the diversity of MS205 allele structures in modern humans and suggest a common mutation pathway with some other minisatellites.

Background : Biogenic amines (BAs) are metabolites produced by the decarboxylation of amino acids with significant physiological functions in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. BAs can be produced by bacteria in fermented foods, but little is known concerning the potential for microbes within the human gut microbiota to produce or degrade BAs. Objective : To isolate and identify BA-producing and BA-degrading microbes from the human gastrointestinal tract. Design : Fecal samples from human volunteers were screened on multiple growth media, under multiple growth conditions. Bacterial species were identified using 16S rRNA sequencing and BA production or degradation was assessed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography. Results : In total, 74 BA-producing or BA-degrading strains were isolated from the human gut. These isolates belong to the genera Bifidobacterium , Clostridium , Enterococcus , Lactobacillus , Pediococcus , Streptococcus , Enterobacter , Escherichia , Klebsiella , Morganella and Proteus . While differences in production or degradation of specific BAs were observed at the strain level, our results suggest that these metabolic activities are widely spread across different taxa present within the human gut microbiota. Conclusions : The isolation and identification of microbes from the human gut with BA-producing and BA-degrading metabolic activity is an important first step in developing a better understanding of how these metabolites influence health and disease.

Full Text Available Objective: In the present study, we examined the effect of a very low-calorie diet(VLCD-based obesity program on human gut microbiome diversity and metabolism during weight loss and weight maintenance. Methods: Obese subjects underwent 3 months of VLCD followed by 3 months of weight maintenance. A lean and an obese control group were included. The microbiome was characterized by performing high-throughput dual-indexed 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. Results: At baseline, a significant difference in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio between the lean and obese individuals was observed (p = 0.047. The VLCD resulted in significant alterations in gut microbiome diversity from baseline to 3 months (p = 0.0053. Acinetobacter represented an indicator species for the observed effect (indicator value = 0.998, p = 0.006. Metabolic analyses revealed alterations of the bacterial riboflavin pathway from baseline to 3 months (pnom = 0.0078. These changes in diversity and bacterial metabolism induced by VLCD diminished during the weight maintenance phase, despite sustained reductions in body weight and sustained improvements of insulin sensitivity. Conclusion: The present data show that a VLCD is able to beneficially alter both gut microbiome diversity and metabolism in obese humans, but that these changes are not sustained during weight maintenance. This finding might suggest that the microbiome should be targeted during obesity programs.

Coexisting bacteria form various microbial communities in human body parts. In these ecosystems they interact in various ways and the properties of the interaction network can be related to the stability and functional diversity of the local bacterial community. In this study, we analyze the interaction network among bacterial OTUs in 11 locations of the human body. These belong to two major groups. One is the digestive system and the other is the female genital tract. In each local ecosystem we determine the key species, both the ones being in key positions in the interaction network and the ones that dominate by frequency. Beyond identifying the key players and discussing their biological relevance, we also quantify and compare the properties of the 11 networks. The interaction networks of the female genital system and the digestive system show totally different architecture. Both the topological properties and the identity of the key groups differ. Key groups represent four phyla of prokaryotes. Some groups appear in key positions in several locations, while others are assigned only to a single body part. The key groups of the digestive and the genital tracts are totally different.

Polymorphic human Alu elements are excellent tools for assessing population structure, and new retrotransposition events can contribute to disease. Next-generation sequencing has greatly increased the potential to discover Alu elements in human populations, and various sequencing and bioinformatics methods have been designed to tackle the problem of detecting these highly repetitive elements. However, current techniques for Alu discovery may miss rare, polymorphic Alu elements. Combining multiple discovery approaches may provide a better profile of the polymorphic Alu mobilome. Alu Yb8/9 elements have been a focus of our recent studies as they are young subfamilies (~2.3 million years old) that contribute ~30% of recent polymorphic Alu retrotransposition events. Here, we update our ME-Scan methods for detecting Alu elements and apply these methods to discover new insertions in a large set of individuals with diverse ancestral backgrounds. We identified 5,288 putative Alu insertion events, including several hundred novel Alu Yb8/9 elements from 213 individuals from 18 diversehuman populations. Hundreds of these loci were specific to continental populations, and 23 non-reference population-specific loci were validated by PCR. We provide high-quality sequence information for 68 rare Alu Yb8/9 elements, of which 11 have hallmarks of an active source element. Our subfamily distribution of rare Alu Yb8/9 elements is consistent with previous datasets, and may be representative of rare loci. We also find that while ME-Scan and low-coverage, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) detect different Alu elements in 41 1000 Genomes individuals, the two methods yield similar population structure results. Current in-silico methods for Alu discovery may miss rare, polymorphic Alu elements. Therefore, using multiple techniques can provide a more accurate profile of Alu elements in individuals and populations. We improved our false-negative rate as an indicator of sample quality for future

Full Text Available Human-wildlife conflicts are a global conservation and management challenge. Multipredator systems present added complexity to the resolution of human-wildlife conflicts because mitigation strategies often are species-specific. Documenting the type and distribution of such conflicts is an important first step toward ensuring that subsequent management and mitigation efforts are appropriately targeted. We reviewed 16 years of records of complaints about two species of strict carnivores, wolves (Canis lupus and cougars (Puma concolor, and two species of omnivores, grizzly bears (Ursus arctos and black bears (Ursus americanus in southwestern Alberta and evaluated the temporal and spatial distribution of these complaints. Conflicts were most frequently associated with bears (68.7% of complaint records, reflecting a diversity of conflict types attributable to their omnivorous diets. Although grizzly bears killed and injured livestock, the majority of conflicts with bears were attributable to attractants (grain and dead livestock for grizzly bears, garbage for black bears. In contrast, wolf and cougar incidents were almost exclusively related to killing or injury of livestock. Complaints for both bear species have increased over the past 16 years while cougar and wolf complaints have remained relatively constant. Grizzly bear and cougar conflicts have been expanding into private lands used for agriculture. Although community driven, targeted mitigation measures have helped reduce conflicts with grizzly bears at the site level, conflicts at the broader scale have continued to increase and continued work is necessary. Long-term human-carnivore coexistence clearly is possible, facilitated by continued monitoring and local efforts to mitigate conflicts.

Background Bile salts are the major end-metabolites of cholesterol and are also important in lipid and protein digestion and in influencing the intestinal microflora. We greatly extend prior surveys of bile salt diversity in both reptiles and mammals, including analysis of 8,000 year old human coprolites and coprolites from the extinct Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotherium shastense). Results While there is significant variation of bile salts across species, bile salt profiles are generally stable within families and often within orders of reptiles and mammals, and do not directly correlate with differences in diet. The variation of bile salts generally accords with current molecular phylogenies of reptiles and mammals, including more recent groupings of squamate reptiles. For mammals, the most unusual finding was that the Paenungulates (elephants, manatees, and the rock hyrax) have a very different bile salt profile from the Rufous sengi and South American aardvark, two other mammals classified with Paenungulates in the cohort Afrotheria in molecular phylogenies. Analyses of the approximately 8,000 year old human coprolites yielded a bile salt profile very similar to that found in modern human feces. Analysis of the Shasta ground sloth coprolites (approximately 12,000 years old) showed the predominant presence of glycine-conjugated bile acids, similar to analyses of bile and feces of living sloths, in addition to a complex mixture of plant sterols and stanols expected from an herbivorous diet. Conclusions The bile salt synthetic pathway has become longer and more complex throughout vertebrate evolution, with some bile salt modifications only found within single groups such as marsupials. Analysis of the evolution of bile salt structures in different species provides a potentially rich model system for the evolution of a complex biochemical pathway in vertebrates. Our results also demonstrate the stability of bile salts in coprolites preserved in arid climates

Full Text Available Abstract Background Bile salts are the major end-metabolites of cholesterol and are also important in lipid and protein digestion and in influencing the intestinal microflora. We greatly extend prior surveys of bile salt diversity in both reptiles and mammals, including analysis of 8,000 year old human coprolites and coprolites from the extinct Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotherium shastense. Results While there is significant variation of bile salts across species, bile salt profiles are generally stable within families and often within orders of reptiles and mammals, and do not directly correlate with differences in diet. The variation of bile salts generally accords with current molecular phylogenies of reptiles and mammals, including more recent groupings of squamate reptiles. For mammals, the most unusual finding was that the Paenungulates (elephants, manatees, and the rock hyrax have a very different bile salt profile from the Rufous sengi and South American aardvark, two other mammals classified with Paenungulates in the cohort Afrotheria in molecular phylogenies. Analyses of the approximately 8,000 year old human coprolites yielded a bile salt profile very similar to that found in modern human feces. Analysis of the Shasta ground sloth coprolites (approximately 12,000 years old showed the predominant presence of glycine-conjugated bile acids, similar to analyses of bile and feces of living sloths, in addition to a complex mixture of plant sterols and stanols expected from an herbivorous diet. Conclusions The bile salt synthetic pathway has become longer and more complex throughout vertebrate evolution, with some bile salt modifications only found within single groups such as marsupials. Analysis of the evolution of bile salt structures in different species provides a potentially rich model system for the evolution of a complex biochemical pathway in vertebrates. Our results also demonstrate the stability of bile salts in coprolites

Full Text Available Tuberculosis (TB is highly infectious and one of the leading killers globally. Several studies from sub-Saharan Africa highlight health systems challenges that affect ability to cope with existing disease burden, including TB, although most of these employ survey-type approaches. Consequently, few address community or patient perspectives and experiences. At the same time, understanding of the mechanisms by which the health systems challenges translate into seeking or avoidance of formal health care remains limited. This paper applies the notion of human agency to examine the ways people who have symptoms suggestive of TB respond to and deal with the symptoms vis-à-vis major challenges inherent within health delivery systems. Empirical data were drawn from a qualitative study exploring the ways in which notions of masculinity affect engagement with care, including men's well-documented tendency to delay in seeking care for TB symptoms. The study was carried out in three high-density locales of urban Blantyre, Malawi. Data were collected in March 2011 -March 2012 using focus group discussions, of which eight (mixed sex = two; female only = three; male only = three were with 74 ordinary community members, and two (both mixed sex were with 20 health workers; and in-depth interviews with 20 TB patients (female = 14 and 20 un-investigated chronic coughers (female = eight. The research process employed a modified version of grounded theory. Data were coded using a coding scheme that was initially generated from the study aims and subsequently progressively amended to incorporate concepts emerging during the analysis. Coded data were retrieved, re-read, and broken down and reconnected iteratively to generate themes. A myriad of problems were described for health systems at the primary health care level, centring largely on shortages of resources (human, equipment, and drugs and unprofessional conduct by health care providers. Participants consistently

Full Text Available Mythily Srinivasan,1 Corinne Blackburn,1 Debomoy K Lahiri2,3 1Department of Oral Pathology, Medicine and Radiology, Indiana University School of Dentistry, 2Institute of Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, 3Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA Abstract: Glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ is a glucocorticoid responsive protein that links the nuclear factor-kappa B (NFκB and the glucocorticoid signaling pathways. Functional and binding studies suggest that the proline-rich region at the carboxy terminus of GILZ binds the p65 subunit of NFκB and suppresses the immunoinflammatory response. A widely-used strategy in the discovery of peptide drugs involves exploitation of the complementary surfaces of naturally occurring binding partners. Previously, we observed that a synthetic peptide (GILZ-P derived from the proline-rich region of GILZ bound activated p65 and ameliorated experimental encephalomyelitis. Here we characterize the secondary structure of GILZ-P by circular dichroic analysis. GILZ-P adopts an extended polyproline type II helical conformation consistent with the structural conformation commonly observed in interfaces of transient intermolecular interactions. To determine the potential application of GILZ-P in humans, we evaluated the toxicity and efficacy of the peptide drug in mature human macrophage-like THP-1 cells. Treatment with GILZ-P at a wide range of concentrations commonly used for peptide drugs was nontoxic as determined by cell viability and apoptosis assays. Functionally, GILZ-P suppressed proliferation and glutamate secretion by activated macrophages by inhibiting nuclear translocation of p65. Collectively, our data suggest that the GILZ-P has therapeutic potential in chronic CNS diseases where persistent inflammation leads to neurodegeneration such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Keywords

We have amplified by the polymerase chain reaction, cloned, and sequenced genomic segments of 118 human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) isolates from 76 cervical biopsy, 14 cervical smear, 3 vulval biopsy, 2 penile biopsy, 2 anal biopsy, and 1 vaginal biopsy sample and two cell lines. The specimens were taken from patients in four countries--Singapore, Brazil, Tanzania, and Germany. The sequence of a 364-bp fragment of the long control region of the virus revealed 38 variants, most of which differed by one or several point mutations. Phylogenetic trees were constructed by distance matrix methods and a transformation series approach. The trees based on the long control region were supported by another set based on the complete E5 protein-coding region. Both sets had two main branches. Nearly all of the variants from Tanzania were assigned to one (African) branch, and all of the German and most of the Singaporean variants were assigned to the other (Eurasian) branch. While some German and Singaporean variants were identical, each group also contained variants that formed unique branches. In contrast to the group-internal homogeneity of the Singaporean, German, and Tanzanian variants, the Brazilian variants were clearly divided between the two branches. Exceptions to this were the seven Singaporean isolates with mutational patterns typical of the Tanzanian isolates. The data suggest that HPV-16 evolved separately for a long period in Africa and Eurasia. Representatives of both branches may have been transferred to Brazil via past colonial immigration. The comparable efficiencies of transfer of the African and the Eurasian variants to the New World suggest pandemic spread of HPV-16 in past centuries. Representatives of the African branch were possibly transferred to the Far East along old Arab and Indonesian sailing routes. Our data also support the view that HPV-16 is a well-defined virus type, since the variants show only a maximal genomic divergence of about 5%. The

The GPCR genes have a variety of exon-intron structures even though their proteins are all structurally homologous. We have examined all human GPCR genes with at least two functional protein isoforms, totaling 199, aiming to gain an understanding of what may have contributed to the large diversity of the exon-intron structures of the GPCR genes. The 199 genes have a total of 808 known protein splicing isoforms with experimentally verified functions. Our analysis reveals that 1301 (80.6%) adjacent exon-exon pairs out of the total of 1,613 in the 199 genes have either exactly one exon skipped or the intron in-between retained in at least one of the 808 protein splicing isoforms. This observation has a statistical significance p-value of 2.051762 * e(-09), assuming that the observed splicing isoforms are independent of the exon-intron structures. Our interpretation of this observation is that the exon boundaries of the GPCR genes are not randomly determined; instead they may be selected to facilitate specific alternative splicing for functional purposes.

Full Text Available The infectious pathogen responsible for prion diseases is the misfolded, aggregated form of the prion protein, PrPSc. In contrast to recent progress in studies of laboratory rodent-adapted prions, current understanding of the molecular basis of human prion diseases and, especially, their vast phenotypic diversity is very limited. Here, we have purified proteinase resistant PrPSc aggregates from two major phenotypes of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD, determined their conformational stability and replication tempo in vitro, as well as characterized structural organization using recently emerged approaches based on hydrogen/deuterium (H/D exchange coupled with mass spectrometry. Our data clearly demonstrate that these phenotypically distant prions differ in a major way with regard to their structural organization, both at the level of the polypeptide backbone (as indicated by backbone amide H/D exchange data as well as the quaternary packing arrangements (as indicated by H/D exchange kinetics for histidine side chains. Furthermore, these data indicate that, in contrast to previous observations on yeast and some murine prion strains, the replication rate of sCJD prions is primarily determined not by conformational stability but by specific structural features that control the growth rate of prion protein aggregates.

Full Text Available In the Private Reserve, Refugio del Oso de Anteojos (El Calvario-Meta, the diversity of dung beetles was studied (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae, grouped around different types of vegetation (Montane Rain Forest, Rainforest Premontane, Lower Montane Rain Forest, by using pitfall traps baited with human dung. During the samplings carried out in the rainy station on 2008, were captured a total of 177 individuals belonging to 9 species. The tribe Canthonini was the most representative with 87.5%, of the described species, followed by Aechini 10.8%, and Onthophagini 1.7%. The dominant species was Canthon lituratus in the three vegetation units: Lower montane rain forest was the richest (9 species and abundance (86 individuals, compared with other environments sampled. By calculating the complementarity index, shows a similar species composition in the three habitats sampled, possibly, related to the floristic composition presented in each one of them.

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV in a women population living within the state of Amazonas, Brazil, and to determine the viral genotypes found. The study included 361 sexually active women over 18 years of age. We performed the Pap test and the molecular diagnosis for HPV DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR. The amplicons obtained were sequenced in automatic sequencer for genotyping. The presence of HPV DNA was found in 29.1% (105 of the women. Only 321 women presented satisfactory slides for cytological diagnosis, 97.9% (314 had normal cytology (negative for cancer, and 2.1% (7 had abnormal cytology (4 ASCUS, 1 LSIL, and 2 HSIL. The types more frequently found were HPV 16 (58.1% and HPV 58 (20.0%. Additionally, we found more 13 types of HPV. Compared with previous studies in Brazil, our data confirmed a high prevalence and genotypic diversity of HPV in Brazilian women.

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease responsible for high morbidity around the world, especially in tropical and low income countries. Rats are thought to be the main vector of human leptospirosis in urban settings. However, differences between urban and low-income rural communities provide additional insights into the epidemiology of the disease. Our study was conducted in two low-income rural communities near the coast of Ecuador. We detected and characterized infectious leptospira DNA in a wide variety of samples using new real time quantitative PCR assays and amplicon sequencing. We detected infectious leptospira in a high percentage of febrile patients (14.7%). In contrast to previous studies on leptospirosis risk factors, higher positivity was not found in rats (3.0%) but rather in cows (35.8%) and pigs (21.1%). Six leptospira species were identified (L. borgpetersenii, L kirschnerii, L santarosai, L. interrogans, L noguchii, and an intermediate species within the L. licerasiae and L. wolffii clade) and no significant differences in the species of leptospira present in each animal species was detected (χ2 = 9.89, adj.p-value = 0.27). A large portion of the world's human population lives in low-income, rural communities, however, there is limited information about leptospirosis transmission dynamics in these settings. In these areas, exposure to peridomestic livestock is particularly common and high prevalence of infectious leptospira in cows and pigs suggest that they may be the most important reservoir for human transmission. Genotyping clinical samples show that multiple species of leptospira are involved in human disease. As these genotypes were also detected in samples from a variety of animals, genotype data must be used in conjunction with epidemiological data to provide evidence of transmission and the importance of different potential leptospirosis reservoirs.

Full Text Available Abstract Background We have analyzed the complete mitochondrial genomes of 22 Pan paniscus (bonobo, pygmy chimpanzee individuals to assess the detailed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA phylogeny of this close relative of Homo sapiens. Results We identified three major clades among bonobos that separated approximately 540,000 years ago, as suggested by Bayesian analysis. Incidentally, we discovered that the current reference sequence for bonobo likely is a hybrid of the mitochondrial genomes of two distant individuals. When comparing spectra of polymorphic mtDNA sites in bonobos and humans, we observed two major differences: (i Of all 31 bonobo mtDNA homoplasies, i.e. nucleotide changes that occurred independently on separate branches of the phylogenetic tree, 13 were not homoplasic in humans. This indicates that at least a part of the unstable sites of the mitochondrial genome is species-specific and difficult to be explained on the basis of a mutational hotspot concept. (ii A comparison of the ratios of non-synonymous to synonymous changes (dN/dS among polymorphic positions in bonobos and in 4902 Homo sapiens mitochondrial genomes revealed a remarkable difference in the strength of purifying selection in the mitochondrial genes of the F0F1-ATPase complex. While in bonobos this complex showed a similar low value as complexes I and IV, human haplogroups displayed 2.2 to 7.6 times increased dN/dS ratios when compared to bonobos. Conclusions Some variants of mitochondrially encoded subunits of the ATPase complex in humans very likely decrease the efficiency of energy conversion leading to production of extra heat. Thus, we hypothesize that the species-specific release of evolutionary constraints for the mitochondrial genes of the proton-translocating ATPase is a consequence of altered heat homeostasis in modern humans.

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Functional trans-generational and parental effects are potentially important determinants of health in several mammals. For humans, the existing evidence is weak. We investigate whether disease exposure triggers functional trans-generational response effects among humans by analyzing siblings who were conceived under different disease loads, and comparing their mortality in later epidemics. Under functional trans-generational response mechanisms, we expect that those who were conceived under high pathogenic stress load will have relatively low mortality during a later epidemic. METHODS: We use data from the Registre de la Population du Québec Ancien, which covers the historical population living in St. Lawrence Valley, Québec, Canada. Children born in 1705-1724 were grouped according to their exposure during conception to the measles 1714-15 epidemic. The 1714-15 epidemic was followed by two mortality crises in 1729-1734. The cause of the first crises in 1729 is not exactly known. The second crisis in 1732 was caused by a smallpox epidemic. Using proportional hazard Cox regression models with multivariate adjustment and with fixed-effects approach that compare siblings, we analyze whether mortality in 1729-1734 is affected by exposure to the 1714-15 epidemic. RESULTS: Children who were conceived during the peak of the measles epidemic of 1714-15 exhibited significantly lower mortality during the 1729-1734 crisis than those who were born before the 1714-15 epidemic (mortality hazard ratio 0.106, psuggest that early disease exposure may be protective later in life. Alternative explanations for the mortality patterns are discussed and shown to be problematic.

This study characterizes the interaction between the carboxy-terminal (ERLI) motif of the essential polarity protein Crb and the Pals1/Stardust PDZ-domain protein. Structures of human Pals1 PDZ with and without a Crb peptide are described, explaining the highly conserved nature of the ERLI motif and revealing a sterically blocked peptide-binding groove in the absence of ligand. Many components of epithelial polarity protein complexes possess PDZ domains that are required for protein interaction and recruitment to the apical plasma membrane. Apical localization of the Crumbs (Crb) transmembrane protein requires a PDZ-mediated interaction with Pals1 (protein-associated with Lin7, Stardust, MPP5), a member of the p55 family of membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs). This study describes the molecular interaction between the Crb carboxy-terminal motif (ERLI), which is required for Drosophila cell polarity, and the Pals1 PDZ domain using crystallography and fluorescence polarization. Only the last four Crb residues contribute to Pals1 PDZ-domain binding affinity, with specificity contributed by conserved charged interactions. Comparison of the Crb-bound Pals1 PDZ structure with an apo Pals1 structure reveals a key Phe side chain that gates access to the PDZ peptide-binding groove. Removal of this side chain enhances the binding affinity by more than fivefold, suggesting that access of Crb to Pals1 may be regulated by intradomain contacts or by protein–protein interaction.

O-glycosylation of proteins is initiated by a family of UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine:polypeptide N-acetylgalactos-aminyltransferases (GalNAc-T). In this study, we have localized endogenous and epitope-tagged human GalNAc-T1, -T2 and -T3 to the Golgi apparatus in HeLa cells by subcellular fractionation......, immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy. We show that all three GalNAc-transferases are concentrated about tenfold in Golgi stacks over Golgi associated tubular-vesicular membrane structures. Surprisingly, we find that GalNAc-T1, -T2 and -T3 are present throughout the Golgi stack suggesting that initiation...... of O-glycosylation may not be restricted to the cis Golgi, but occur at multiple sites within the Golgi apparatus. GalNAc-T1 distributes evenly across the Golgi stack whereas GalNAc-T2 and -T3 reside preferentially on the trans side and in the medial part of the Golgi stack, respectively. Moreover, we...

The perception of culture prevailing in the literature on international and intercultural education is often too limited to be effectively utilized by educators who wish to embrace the diversity in their classrooms. Only by reimagining the notions of "culture" and "cultural diversity" and by liberating them from the rigidities of dominant…

The female genital tract is an important bacterial habitat of the human body, and vaginal microbiota plays a crucial role in vaginal health. The alteration of vaginal microbiota affects millions of women annually, and is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, including human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the association between bacterial vaginosis and HPV infection. Little is known about the composition of vaginal microbial communities involved in HPV acquisition. The present study was performed to investigate whether HPV infection was associated with the diversity and composition of vaginal microbiota. A total of 70 healthy women (32 HPV-negative and 38 HPV-positive) with normal cervical cytology were enrolled in this study. Culture-independent polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to measure the diversity and composition of vaginal microbiota of all subjects. We found significantly greater biological diversity in the vaginal microbiota of HPV-positive women (p vaginal microbiota from the two groups had different profiles. Our study is the first systematic evaluation of an association between vaginal microbiota and HPV infection, and we have demonstrated that compared with HPV-negative women, the bacterial diversity of HPV-positive women is more complex and the composition of vaginal microbiota is different.

Andes virus (ANDV) is the predominant etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in southern South America. In Chile, serologically confirmed human hantavirus infections have occurred throughout a wide latitudinal distribution extending from the regions of Valparaíso (32 to 33°S) to Aysén (46°S) in southern Patagonia. In this study, we found seropositive rodents further north in the Coquimbo region (30°S) in Chile. Rodent seroprevalence was 1.4%, with Oligoryzomys longicaudatus displaying the highest seroprevalence (5.9%), followed by Abrothrix longipilis (1.9%) and other species exhibiting ≤0.6% seropositivity. We sequenced partial ANDV small (S) segment RNA from 6 HCPS patients and 32 rodents of four different species collected throughout the known range of hantavirus infection in Chile. Phylogenetic analyses showed two major ANDV South (ANDV Sout) clades, congruent with two major Chilean ecoregions, Mediterranean (Chilean matorral [shrubland]) and Valdivian temperate forest. Human and rodent samples grouped according to geographic location. Phylogenetic comparative analyses of portions of S and medium segments (encoding glycoproteins Gn and Gc) from a subset of rodent specimens exhibited similar topologies, corroborating two major ANDV Sout clades in Chile and suggesting that yet unknown factors influence viral gene flow and persistence throughout the two Chilean ecoregions. Genetic algorithms for recombination detection identified recombination events within the S segment. Molecular demographic analyses showed that the virus is undergoing purifying selection and demonstrated a recent exponential growth in the effective number of ANDV Sout infections in Chile that correlates with the increased number of human cases reported. Although we determined virus sequences from four rodent species, our results confirmed O. longicaudatus as the primary ANDV Sout reservoir in Chile. While evidence of geographic differentiation exists, a single

Andes virus (ANDV) is the predominant etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in southern South America. In Chile, serologically confirmed human hantavirus infections have occurred throughout a wide latitudinal distribution extending from the regions of Valparaíso (32 to 33 degrees S) to Aysén (46 degrees S) in southern Patagonia. In this study, we found seropositive rodents further north in the Coquimbo region (30 degrees S) in Chile. Rodent seroprevalence was 1.4%, with Oligoryzomys longicaudatus displaying the highest seroprevalence (5.9%), followed by Abrothrix longipilis (1.9%) and other species exhibiting Chile. Phylogenetic analyses showed two major ANDV South (ANDV Sout) clades, congruent with two major Chilean ecoregions, Mediterranean (Chilean matorral [shrubland]) and Valdivian temperate forest. Human and rodent samples grouped according to geographic location. Phylogenetic comparative analyses of portions of S and medium segments (encoding glycoproteins Gn and Gc) from a subset of rodent specimens exhibited similar topologies, corroborating two major ANDV Sout clades in Chile and suggesting that yet unknown factors influence viral gene flow and persistence throughout the two Chilean ecoregions. Genetic algorithms for recombination detection identified recombination events within the S segment. Molecular demographic analyses showed that the virus is undergoing purifying selection and demonstrated a recent exponential growth in the effective number of ANDV Sout infections in Chile that correlates with the increased number of human cases reported. Although we determined virus sequences from four rodent species, our results confirmed O. longicaudatus as the primary ANDV Sout reservoir in Chile. While evidence of geographic differentiation exists, a single cosmopolitan lineage of ANDV Sout remains the sole etiologic agent for HCPS in Chile.

The city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, has sociodemographic characteristics similar to some African cities. Up to now, it has had the highest prevalence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection (1.74%) in the country. To investigate which strains of HTLV-I are circulating in Salvador, we studied isolates from 82 patients infected with HTLV-I: 19 from the general population, 21 from pregnant women, 16 from intravenous drug users, and 26 from patients and their family attending a neurologic clinic. Phylogenetic analysis from part of the LTR fragments showed that most of these isolates belonged to the Transcontinental subgroup of the Cosmopolitan subtype (HTLV-Ia). Only one sample from a pregnant woman was closely related to the Japanese subgroup, suggesting recent introduction of a Japanese HTLV-I lineage into Salvador. betaA-Globin haplotypes were examined in 34 infected individuals and found to be atypical, confirming the racial heterogeneity of this population. A total of 20 chromosomes were characterized as Central African Republic (CAR) haplotype (29.4%), 31 (45.6%) were characterized as Benin (BEN) haplotype, and 17 (25%) were characterized as Senegal (SEN) haplotype. Five patients' genotypes (14.7%) were CAR/CAR; 10 (29,4%), BEN/BEN; 9 (26.5%), CAR/BEN; 2 (5.9%), BEN/SEN; and 7 (20.6%), SEN/SEN. One patient's genotype (2.9%) was CAR/SEN. The betaA-globin haplotype distribution in Salvador is unusual compared with other Brazilian states. Our data support the hypothesis of multiple post-Columbian introductions of African HTLV-Ia strains in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

The twenty-first century organizations are increasingly becoming multicultural workplaces for communication. This paper explores recent literature on the increasing global influence of workforce diversity and its affect on workplace communication. It provides a model for the discussion of the opportunities and challenges of diversity in the workplace. The paper then provides an analytical framework that guides readers with practical ideas that can assist them in their endeavors to effectively...

The paper provides a conceptual understanding and significance of diversity and especially workplace diversity in Nigeria, drawing on previous studies. Naturally, the practice of HRM cannot be divorced from the socio-cultural, economic, political and legal environments of the nation. As the giant of Africa, with a population of about 180 million, about half of whom are of working age, Nigeria is an attractive market for multinationals from across the globe, and simultaneously fast becoming a ...

Each day presents a new set of challenges and risks to companies operating in this age ofboth a global economy and of multiculturalism, i.e. a fast-changing marketplace. Globalcompetition and escalating economic pressures make the business environment bothdynamic and difficult, especially given the workforce diversity which has to be managed soas to achieve the highest levels of task performance and job satisfaction; managers must beprepared to respect alternative cultures and value diversity...

This article elucidates an integrative model of hypnosis that integrates social, cultural, cognitive, and neurophysiological variables at play both in and out of hypnosis and considers their dynamic interaction as determinants of the multifaceted experience of hypnosis. The roles of these variables are examined in the induction and suggestion stages of hypnosis, including how they are related to the experience of involuntariness, one of the hallmarks of hypnosis. It is suggested that studies of the modification of hypnotic suggestibility; cognitive flexibility; response sets and expectancies; the default-mode network; and the search for the neurophysiological correlates of hypnosis, more broadly, in conjunction with research on social psychological variables, hold much promise to further understanding of hypnosis.

Nucleotide sequences of Shiga toxin (Stx) genes in STEC from various origins were determined and characterized by phylogenetic analysis based on Shiga toxin (Stx) with those deposited in GenBank. The phylogenetic trees placed Stx1 and Stx2 into two and five groups respectively, and indicated that Stx1 in sheep-origin STEC were placed into a different group from those in other STEC, and that Stx2 of deer-origin STEC also belonged to the unique group and appeared to be distantly related to human-origin STEC. On the other hand, Stx of STEC isolated from cattle, seagulls and flies were closely related to those of human-origin STEC. Such a diversity of Stx suggested that STEC might be widely disseminated in many animal species, and be dependent on their host species or their habitat. In addition, the active sites in both toxins were compared; the active sites in both subunits of Stx in all the animal-origin STEC were identical to those in human-origin STEC, suggesting that all the toxin of STEC from animals might be also cytotoxic, and therefore, such animal-origin STEC might have potential pathogenicity for humans.

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of 8 immunodeficiency cases caused by human recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1) mutations, and to explore the relationship among genotypes, clinical manifestations and immunophenotypes. Methods: Clinical data were collected and analyzed from patients with RAG1 mutations who visited the Department of Clinical Immunology, Children's Hospital of Fudan University between October 2013 and June 2017. The data included clinical manifestations, immunophenotypes and genotypes. Results: A total of 8 patients were diagnosed with RAG1 deficiency (6 boys and 2 girls). The minimum age of onset was 2 months, and the maximum age was 4 months. The minimum age of diagnosis was 2 months, and the maximum age was 13 years. Four patients had a family history of infant death due to severe infections. Two cases were born to the same consanguineous parents. All cases had recurrent infections, including involvement of respiratory tract (8 cases), digestive tract (6 cases), urinary tract (1 case), and central nervous system (1 case). The pathogens of infection included bacteria, viruses and fungi. Rotavirus was found in 3 cases, cytomegalovirus (CMV) in 5 cases, bacillus Calmette-Guérin adverse reaction in 2 cases (1 of whom had a positive acid-fast smear from lymph node puncture fluid), fungal infection in 3 cases. One case had multiple nodular space-occupying lesions in lungs and abdominal cavity complicated with multiple bone destruction. The peripheral blood lymphocyte counts of all patients ranged between 0.1 ×10(9)/L and 3.3×10(9)/L (median, 0.65×10(9)/L). Eosinophilia was found in 3 cases (range, (0.48-1.69) ×10(9)/L). The patients were classified according to immunophenotype as severe combined immunodeficiency phenotype (4 cases), leaky severe combined immunodeficiency (2 cases), Omenn syndrome (1 case) and combined immunodeficiency (1 case) . Decreased serum IgG levels were found in 3 cases, increased serum IgM levels in

of these secondary forests to conserve tree species diversity, we also evaluated the diversity of species that can persist as viable metapopulations in a dynamic patchwork of short-lived successional forests, using different assumptions about the average relative size at reproductive maturity. We found...... niche operate simultaneously and shape successional dynamics of the metacommunity of these early secondary forests. A high diversity of plant species across the metacommunity of early secondary forests shows a potential for restoration of diverse forests through natural succession, when trees....... This implies that ephemeral secondary forests have a limited role in the long-term conservation of tree species diversity in human-modified tropical landscapes....

Full Text Available Abstract Background The incidence and diversity of human methanogens are insufficiently characterised in the gastrointestinal tract of both health and disease. A PCR and clone library methodology targeting the mcrA gene was adopted to facilitate the two-fold aim of surveying the relative incidence of methanogens in health and disease groups and also to provide an overview of methanogen diversity in the human gastrointestinal tract. Results DNA faecal extracts (207 in total from a group of healthy controls and five gastrointestinal disease groups were investigated. Colorectal cancer, polypectomised, irritable bowel syndrome and the control group had largely equivalent numbers of individuals positive for methanogens (range 45–50%. Methanogen incidence in the inflammatory bowel disease groups was reduced, 24% for ulcerative colitis and 30% for Crohn's disease. Four unique mcrA gene restriction fragment length polymorphism profiles were identified and bioinformatic analyses revealed that the majority of all sequences (94% retrieved from libraries were 100% identical to Methanobrevibacter smithii mcrA gene. In addition, mcrA gene sequences most closely related to Methanobrevibacter oralis and members of the order Methanosarcinales were also recovered. Conclusion The mcrA gene serves as a useful biomarker for methanogen detection in the human gut and the varying trends of methanogen incidence in the human gut could serve as important indicators of intestinal function. Although Methanobrevibacter smithii is the dominant methanogen in both the distal colon of individuals in health and disease, the diversity of methanogens is greater than previously reported. In conclusion, the low incidence of methanogens in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the functionality of the methanogens and impact of methane production in addition to competitive interactions between methanogens and other microbial groups in the human gastrointestinal tract warrants further

Full Text Available Abstract Background Chlamydia pneumoniae is a widespread pathogen causing upper and lower respiratory tract infections in addition to a range of other diseases in humans and animals. Previous whole genome analyses have focused on four essentially clonal (> 99% identity C. pneumoniae human genomes (AR39, CWL029, J138 and TW183, providing relatively little insight into strain diversity and evolution of this species. Results We performed individual gene-by-gene comparisons of the recently sequenced C. pneumoniae koala genome and four C. pneumoniae human genomes to identify species-specific genes, and more importantly, to gain an insight into the genetic diversity and evolution of the species. We selected genes dispersed throughout the chromosome, representing genes that were specific to C. pneumoniae, genes with a demonstrated role in chlamydial biology and/or pathogenicity (n = 49, genes encoding nucleotide salvage or amino acid biosynthesis proteins (n = 6, and extrachromosomal elements (9 plasmid and 2 bacteriophage genes. Conclusions We have identified strain-specific differences and targets for detection of C. pneumoniae isolates from both human and animal origin. Such characterisation is necessary for an improved understanding of disease transmission and intervention.

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a widespread pathogen causing upper and lower respiratory tract infections in addition to a range of other diseases in humans and animals. Previous whole genome analyses have focused on four essentially clonal (> 99% identity) C. pneumoniae human genomes (AR39, CWL029, J138 and TW183), providing relatively little insight into strain diversity and evolution of this species. We performed individual gene-by-gene comparisons of the recently sequenced C. pneumoniae koala genome and four C. pneumoniae human genomes to identify species-specific genes, and more importantly, to gain an insight into the genetic diversity and evolution of the species. We selected genes dispersed throughout the chromosome, representing genes that were specific to C. pneumoniae, genes with a demonstrated role in chlamydial biology and/or pathogenicity (n = 49), genes encoding nucleotide salvage or amino acid biosynthesis proteins (n = 6), and extrachromosomal elements (9 plasmid and 2 bacteriophage genes). We have identified strain-specific differences and targets for detection of C. pneumoniae isolates from both human and animal origin. Such characterisation is necessary for an improved understanding of disease transmission and intervention.

Accumulating evidence suggests that dietary taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) exerts beneficial anti-inflammatory effects in the large intestine. In this study, we investigated the possible impact of taurine on human colonic microbiota using our single-batch fermentation system (Kobe University Human Intestinal Microbiota Model; KUHIMM). Fecal samples from eight humans were individually cultivated with and without taurine in the KUHIMM. The results showed that taurine remained largely undegraded after 30 h of culturing in the absence of oxygen, although some 83% of the taurine was degraded after 30 h of culturing under aerobic conditions. Diversity in bacterial species in the cultures was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, revealing that taurine caused no significant change in the diversity of the microbiota; both operational taxonomic unit and Shannon-Wiener index of the cultures were comparable to those of the respective source fecal samples. In addition, principal coordinate analysis indicated that taurine did not alter the composition of bacterial species, since the 16S rRNA gene profile of bacterial species in the original fecal sample was maintained in each of the cultures with and without taurine. Furthermore, metabolomic analysis revealed that taurine did not affect the composition of short-chain fatty acids produced in the cultures. These results, under these controlled but artificial conditions, suggested that the beneficial anti-inflammatory effects of dietary taurine in the large intestine are independent of the intestinal microbiota. We infer that dietary taurine may act directly in the large intestine to exert anti-inflammatory effects.

Geo-diversity is a concept of richness and number of different landscapes in a small area. The higher geo-diversity the potential attraction is higher. Many geoparks will make use of those landscapes for sustainable development. The purpose of this study is trying to evaluate the geomorphic resources for geoparks in Taiwan. For the sustainable development, the concept of geopark is one of the tool for the development of society. The evaluation of geo-diversity helps our understanding of local resources and for future management. Therefore, the geomorphic resources should be evaluated systematically and aim to help the sustainable development of the geopark. The indicators of geo-diversity can be classified into four characters to review: 1. number of landscapes within geopark; 2. accessibility to the sites of geopark, 3. dynamic processes of the landforms, 4. method of landform evolution. Taiwan geoparks should make use of these four characters for conservation, management and education purposes. Yehliu, Matsu and Penghu geoparks are three typical cases for demonstration in this paper.

Three hundred and thirty-two plots have been sampled on the Wayne National Forest of southeastern Ohio, for the purpose of developing an ecological classification system (ECS). The ECS will be based on the herbaceous and woody vegetation, soils and topography of mature (80-140 year-old), relatively-undisturbed forests. Species diversity changes little across this...

The TGF-b superfamily cytokine MIC-1/GDF15 circulates in the blood of healthy humans. Its levels rise substantially in cancer and other diseases and this may sometimes lead to development of an anorexia/cachexia syndrome. This is mediated by a direct action of MIC-1/GDF15 on feeding centres...

This paper summarizes a May 2000 conference about advancing the civil and human rights of people with disabilities from diverse cultures. The conference included people with disabilities from diverse cultures and members of national civil rights organizations. The conference identified five priority areas for attention: (1) cultivating leadership…

Sulfonylurea derivatives are widely used for clinical treatment of human subjects with Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) caused by mutations in HNF-1α or HNF-4α despite the mechanism leading to their hypersensitivity is incompletely understood. In Hnf1a(-/-) mice, serum concentrations and half-life of sulfonylurea derivatives are strongly increased. We thus hypothesized that reduced sulfonylurea derivatives clearance stands behind their therapeutic potential in human HNF1A/HNF4A MODY subjects. Single doses of 3 mg glipizide and 5 mg glibenclamide/glyburide were administered sequentially to seven HNF1A/HNF4A MODY subjects and six control individuals matched for their age, BMI and CYP2C9 genotype. Pharmacokinetic (plasma concentration levels, Cmax, tmax, t1/2, AUC) and pharmacodynamic parameters (glycemia, C-peptide and insulin plasma levels) were followed for 24 hours after drug administration. We provide the first evidence on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of sulfonylurea derivatives in human MODY subjects. The half-life of glipizide did not change, and reached 3.8±0.7 and 3.7±1.8 h in the MODY and control subjects, respectively. The half-life of glibenclamide was increased only in some MODY subjects (t1/2 9.5±6.7 and 5.0±1.4 h, respectively). Importantly, the intra- individual responses of MODY (but control) subjects to glipizide and glibenclamide treatment were highly correlated. With regards to pharmacodynamics, we observed a differential response of control but not MODY subjects to the doses of glipizide and glibenclamide applied. We rejected the hypothesis that all human MODY-associated mutations in HNF1A / HNF4A induce changes in the pharmacokinetics of sulfonylureas in humans analogically to the Hnf1a(-/-) mouse model.

with group trust. The findings of this study suggest that openness to diversity should be highly prioritized by human resource managers in demographically diverse organizations. Possible interventions include organizational culture change programs, diversity training at individual and team levels as well...

Offers (1) suggestions for improving college students' study skills; (2) a system for keeping track of parent, teacher, and community contacts; (3) suggestions for motivating students using tic tac toe; (4) suggestions for using etymology to improve word retention; (5) a word search grid; and (6) suggestions for using postcards in remedial reading…

A controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) for human habitation in preparation for future long duration space flights is considered. The success of such a system depends upon the feasibility of revitalization of food resources and the human nutritional needs which are to be met by these food resources. Edible higher plants are prime candidates for the photoautotrophic components of this system if nutritionally adequate diets can be derived from these plant sources to support humans. Human nutritional requirements information based on current knowledge are developed for inhabitants envisioned in the CELSS ground based demonstrator. Groups of plant products that can provide the nutrients are identified.

Full Text Available Purpose: To present a method for systematically mapping diversity of publication patterns at the author level in the social sciences and humanities in terms of publication type, publication language and co-authorship. Design/methodology/approach: In a follow-up to the hard partitioning clustering by Verleysen and Weeren in 2016, we now propose the complementary use of fuzzy cluster analysis, making use of a membership coefficient to study gradual differences between publication styles among authors within a scholarly discipline. The analysis of the probability density function of the membership coefficient allows to assess the distribution of publication styles within and between disciplines. Findings: As an illustration we analyze 1,828 productive authors affiliated in Flanders, Belgium. Whereas a hard partitioning previously identified two broad publication styles, an international one vs. a domestic one, fuzzy analysis now shows gradual differences among authors. Internal diversity also varies across disciplines and can be explained by researchers' specialization and dissemination strategies. Research limitations: The dataset used is limited to one country for the years 2000-2011; a cognitive classification of authors may yield a different result from the affiliation-based classification used here. Practical implications: Our method is applicable to other bibliometric and research evaluation contexts, especially for the social sciences and humanities in non-Anglophone countries. Originality/value: The method proposed is a novel application of cluster analysis to the field of bibliometrics. Applied to publication patterns at the author level in the social sciences and humanities, for the first time it systematically documents intra-disciplinary diversity.

The organised gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) exists adjacent to an extensive and diverse luminal flora. The follicle associated epithelium and associated dendritic cells and lymphocytes form a tightly fortified gateway between the flora and the host that permits connectivity between them and chronic activation of the lymphoid compartment. As a consequence, plasma cell precursors are generated continuously, and in abundance, in GALT by clonal proliferation. Clonal proliferation alone on this scale would reduce the spectrum of B cell specificity. To compensate, GALT also houses molecular machinery that diversifies the receptor repertoire by somatic hypermutation, class switch recombination and receptor revision. These three processes of enhancing the diversity of mature B cells ensure that although clonally related plasma cells may secrete immunoglobulin side by side in the mucosa they rarely have identical antigen binding sites.

The domestication of animals has generated a set of phenotypic modifications, affecting behaviour, appearance, physiology and reproduction, which are consistent across a range of species. We hypothesized that some of these phenotypes could have evolved because of genetic correlation to tameness, an essential trait for successful domestication. Starting from an outbred population of red junglefowl, ancestor of all domestic chickens, we selected birds for either high or low fear of humans for five generations. Birds from the fifth selected generation (S 5 ) showed a divergent pattern of growth and reproduction, where low fear chickens grew larger and produced larger offspring. To examine underlying genetic mechanisms, we used microarrays to study gene expression in thalamus/hypothalamus, a brain region involved in fear and stress, in both the parental generation and the S 5 . While parents of the selection lines did not show any differentially expressed genes, there were a total of 33 genes with adjusted p -values below 0.1 in S 5 . These were mainly related to sperm-function, immunological functions, with only a few known to be relevant to behaviour. Hence, five generations of divergent selection for fear of humans produced changes in hypothalamic gene expression profiles related to pathways associated with male reproduction and to immunology. This may be linked to the effects seen on growth and size of offspring. These results support the hypothesis that domesticated phenotypes may evolve because of correlated effects related to reduced fear of humans.

the scheme with a mobile fiber-based time-domain real-time OCT system. Essential enhancement was obtained in image contrast when performing in vivo imaging of normal skin and lesions. Resulting images show improved delineation of structure in correspondence with the observed improvements in contrast...... system. Here, we consider a method that in principle can be fitted to most OCT systems without major modifications. Specifically, we address a spatial diversity technique for suppressing speckle noise in OCT images of human skin. The method is a variant of changing the position of the sample relative...

The human skin microbiome acts as an important barrier protecting our body from pathogens and other environmental influences. Recent investigations have provided evidence that Archaea are a constant but highly variable component of the human skin microbiome, yet factors that determine their abundance changes are unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the abundance of archaea on human skin is influenced by human age and skin physiology by quantitative PCR of 51 different skin samples taken from human subjects of various age. Our results reveal that archaea are more abundant in human subjects either older than 60 years or younger than 12 years as compared to middle-aged human subjects. These results, together with results obtained from spectroscopy analysis, allowed us gain first insights into a potential link of lower sebum levels and lipid content and thus reduced skin moisture with an increase in archaeal signatures. Amplicon sequencing of selected samples revealed the prevalence of specific eury- and mainly thaumarchaeal taxa, represented by a core archaeome of the human skin.

All people are subject to memory suggestibility, but suicidal individuals may be especially so. The link between suicidality and suggestibility is unclear given mixed findings and methodological weaknesses of past research. To test the link between suicidality and interrogative suggestibility, 149 undergraduates answered questions about suicidal thoughts and reasons for living, and participated in a direct suggestibility procedure. As expected, suggestibility correlated with suicidality but accounted for little overall variance (4%). Mental health professionals might be able to take advantage of client suggestibility by directly telling suicidal persons to refrain from suicidal thoughts or actions.

of DPPE on Tg-induced aggregation were not reversed by the addition of histamine to saponin-permeabilized platelets suggesting non-histamine mediated effects of DPPE on Tg-induced aggregation. Tg stimulated an increase in the cytosolic free calcium concentration which was unaffected by DPPE indicating...

Full Text Available Down syndrome is one of the most common congenital disorders leading to a wide range of health problems in humans, including frequent otitis media. The Tc1 mouse carries a significant part of human chromosome 21 (Hsa21 in addition to the full set of mouse chromosomes and shares many phenotypes observed in humans affected by Down syndrome with trisomy of chromosome 21. However, it is unknown whether Tc1 mice exhibit a hearing phenotype and might thus represent a good model for understanding the hearing loss that is common in Down syndrome. In this study we carried out a structural and functional assessment of hearing in Tc1 mice. Auditory brainstem response (ABR measurements in Tc1 mice showed normal thresholds compared to littermate controls and ABR waveform latencies and amplitudes were equivalent to controls. The gross anatomy of the middle and inner ears was also similar between Tc1 and control mice. The physiological properties of cochlear sensory receptors (inner and outer hair cells: IHCs and OHCs were investigated using single-cell patch clamp recordings from the acutely dissected cochleae. Adult Tc1 IHCs exhibited normal resting membrane potentials and expressed all K(+ currents characteristic of control hair cells. However, the size of the large conductance (BK Ca(2+ activated K(+ current (I(K,f, which enables rapid voltage responses essential for accurate sound encoding, was increased in Tc1 IHCs. All physiological properties investigated in OHCs were indistinguishable between the two genotypes. The normal functional hearing and the gross structural anatomy of the middle and inner ears in the Tc1 mouse contrast to that observed in the Ts65Dn model of Down syndrome which shows otitis media. Genes that are trisomic in Ts65Dn but disomic in Tc1 may predispose to otitis media when an additional copy is active.

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The sperm centriole is the progenitor of centrosomes in all somatic cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Centrioles and centrosomes exist in parthenogenetic ovarian teratoma cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Without a sperm centriole, parthenogenetic oocytes produce centrioles and centrosomes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Parthenogenetic human oocytes can develop and differentiate into mature cells. -- Abstract: In most animals, somatic cell centrosomes are inherited from the centriole of the fertilizing spermatozoa. The oocyte centriole degenerates during oogenesis, and completely disappears in metaphase II. Therefore, the embryos generated by in vitro parthenogenesis are supposed to develop without any centrioles. Exceptional acentriolar and/or acentrosomal developments are possible in mice and in some experimental cells; however, in most animals, the full developmental potential of parthenogenetic cells in vitro and the fate of their centrioles/centrosomes are not clearly understood. To predict the future of in vitro human parthenogenesis, we explored the centrioles/centrosomes in ovarian mature cystic teratoma cells by immunofluorescent staining and transmission electron microscopy. We confirmed the presence of centrioles and centrosomes in these well-known parthenogenetic ovarian tumor cells. Our findings clearly demonstrate that, even without a sperm centriole, parthenotes that develop from activated oocytes can produce their own centrioles/centrosomes, and can even develop into the well-differentiated mature tissue.

Highlights: ► The sperm centriole is the progenitor of centrosomes in all somatic cells. ► Centrioles and centrosomes exist in parthenogenetic ovarian teratoma cells. ► Without a sperm centriole, parthenogenetic oocytes produce centrioles and centrosomes. ► Parthenogenetic human oocytes can develop and differentiate into mature cells. -- Abstract: In most animals, somatic cell centrosomes are inherited from the centriole of the fertilizing spermatozoa. The oocyte centriole degenerates during oogenesis, and completely disappears in metaphase II. Therefore, the embryos generated by in vitro parthenogenesis are supposed to develop without any centrioles. Exceptional acentriolar and/or acentrosomal developments are possible in mice and in some experimental cells; however, in most animals, the full developmental potential of parthenogenetic cells in vitro and the fate of their centrioles/centrosomes are not clearly understood. To predict the future of in vitro human parthenogenesis, we explored the centrioles/centrosomes in ovarian mature cystic teratoma cells by immunofluorescent staining and transmission electron microscopy. We confirmed the presence of centrioles and centrosomes in these well-known parthenogenetic ovarian tumor cells. Our findings clearly demonstrate that, even without a sperm centriole, parthenotes that develop from activated oocytes can produce their own centrioles/centrosomes, and can even develop into the well-differentiated mature tissue.

Antibody genes are assembled from a series of germ-line gene segments that are juxtaposed during the maturation of B lymphocytes. Although diversification of the adult antibody repertoire results in large part from the combinatorial joining of these gene segments, a restricted set of antibody heavy chain variable (V H ), diversity (D H ), and joining (J H ) region gene segments appears preferentially in the human fetal repertoire. The authors report here that one of these early-expressed V H elements (termed V H 6) is the most 3' V H gene segment, positioned 77 kilobases on the 5' side of the J H locus and immediately adjacent to a set of previously described D H sequences. In addition to providing a physical map linking human V H , D H , and J H elements, these results support the view that the programmed development of the antibody V H repertoire is determined in part by the chromosomal position of these gene segments

Nonylphenol (NP), a by-product of alkylphenol ethoxylates, is a pervasive surfactant that activates the xenosensing nuclear receptor, the pregnane X-receptor (PXR) in transactivation assays in vitro. We are interested in determining if NP activates PXR in vivo, determining if hPXR and mPXR act similarly, and investigating the role of PXR in protecting individuals from NP. Wild-type (WT), PXR-null, and humanized PXR (hPXR) mice were treated with NP at 0, 50 or 75 mg/kg/day for one week, and cytochrome P450 (CYP) induction, liver histopathology, and serum NP concentrations were examined. WT mice treated with NP showed induction of Cyp2b, and male-specific induction of Cyp2c and Cyp3a. CYPs were not induced in PXR-null mice, demonstrating that PXR is necessary for NP-mediated CYP induction. CAR-mediated CYP induction was not observed in the PXR-null mice despite previous data demonstrating that NP is also a CAR activator. hPXR mice only showed moderate Cyp induction, suggesting that hPXR is not as sensitive to NP as mPXR in vivo. NP-mediated Cyp3a induction from three human hepatocyte donors was not significant, confirming that hPXR is not very sensitive to NP-mediated CYP induction. Lastly, mice with PXR (mPXR and hPXR) showed lower NP serum concentrations than PXR-null mice treated with NP suggesting that PXR plays a role in decreasing liver toxicity by basally regulating phase I-III detoxification enzymes that promote the metabolism and elimination of NP. In summary, PXR is required for NP-mediated CYP-induction, mPXR mediates greater CYP induction than hPXR in vivo, and the presence of PXR, especially mPXR, is associated with altered histopathology and increased clearance of NP.

Full Text Available Different subgenogroups of enterovirus 71 (EV-71 have caused numerous outbreaks of hand, foot, and mouth disease worldwide, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. During the development of a vaccine against EV-71, the genetic and antigenic diversities of EV-71 isolates from Taiwan were analyzed by phylogenetic analyses and neutralization tests. The results showed that the dominant genogroups had changed twice, from B to C and from C to B, between 2009 and 2012. The subgenogroup B5 (B5b cluster was dominant in 2008-2009 but was replaced by subgenogroup C4 in 2010-2011. From the end of 2011 to 2012, the re-emerging subgenogroup B5 (B5c cluster was identified as the dominant subgenogroup of EV-71 outbreaks, and subgenogroups C2 and C4 were detected in sporadic cases. Interestingly, the amino acid substitution at position 145 in the VP1 gene was observed in some strains isolated from patients with acute flaccid paralysis. Furthermore, thirty-five strains and their corresponding serum samples were used to analyze the cross-protections and antigenic diversities among different subgenogroups (C4a, C5, B4, B5b, B5c, and C2-like of EV-71. Evident antigenic diversity existed only for the C2-like subgenogroup, which was not effectively neutralized by other serum samples. In contrast, the anti-C2-like serum sample showed broad cross-reactivity against all other subgenogroups. Therefore, these results may provide valuable information for the selection of EV-71 vaccine candidates and the evolution of EV-71 subgenogroups in Taiwan from 2009 to 2012.

Corporate responsibility (CR) used to focus mainly on preventing a firm's reputational damages, rather than integrating sustainable development imperatives. By bringing innovation into CR strategies, firms can create positive synergies between their core business and socio-environmental...... an evaluation of policies in three dimensions of environmental, economic and social sustainability. A cluster matrix analysis of CR strategy and diversity management strategy of 17 companies in the luxury sector reveal that the level of strategic commitment to CR has a close linkage with the inclusiveness...

Background: Structural variation (SV) influences genome organization and contributes to human disease. However, the complete mutational spectrum of SV has not been routinely captured in disease association studies. Results: We sequenced 689 participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other

Full Text Available Seventy four SNP genotypes and 54 E. coli genomes from kangaroo, Tasmanian devil, reptile, cattle, dog, horse, duck, bird, fish, rodent, human and environmental water sources were screened for the presence of the CRISPR 2.1 loci flanked by cas2 and iap genes. CRISPR 2.1 regions were found in 49% of the strains analysed. The majority of human E. coli isolates lacked the CRISPR 2.1 locus. We described 76 CRISPR 2.1 positive isolates originating from Australian animals and humans, which contained a total of 764 spacer sequences. CRISPR arrays demonstrated a long history of phage attacks especially in isolates from birds (up to 40 spacers. The most prevalent spacer (1.6% was an ancient spacer found mainly in human, horse, duck, rodent, reptile and environmental water sources. The sequence of this spacer matched the intestinal P7 phage and the pO111 plasmid of E. coli.

the Pathway Tools software, empowering researchers and clinicians interested in visualizing and interpreting metabolic pathways encoded by the human gut microbiome. For the first time, GutCyc provides consistent annotations and metabolic pathway predictions

Full Text Available The anatomical basis for the concept of meridians in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM has not been resolved. This paper reviews the evidence supporting a relationship between acupuncture points/meridians and fascia. The reviewed evidence supports the view that the human body's fascia network may be the physical substrate represented by the meridians of TCM. Specifically, this hypothesis is supported by anatomical observations of body scan data demonstrating that the fascia network resembles the theoretical meridian system in salient ways, as well as physiological, histological, and clinical observations. This view represents a theoretical basis and means for applying modern biomedical research to examining TCM principles and therapies, and it favors a holistic approach to diagnosis and treatment.

IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, IL-24, and IL-26 are members of the IL-10 family of cytokines that have been shown to be up-regulated in psoriatic skin. Contrary to IL-10, these cytokines signal using receptor complex R1 subunits that are preferentially expressed on cells of epithelial origin; thus, we henceforth refer to them as the IL-20 subfamily cytokines. In this study, we show that primary human keratinocytes (KCs) express receptors for these cytokines and that IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, and IL-24 induce acanthosis in reconstituted human epidermis (RHE) in a dose-dependent manner. These cytokines also induce expression of the psoriasis-associated protein S100A7 and keratin 16 in RHE and cause persistent activation of Stat3 with nuclear localization. IL-22 had the most pronounced effects on KC proliferation and on the differentiation of KCs in RHE, inducing a decrease in the granular cell layer (hypogranulosis). Furthermore, gene expression analysis performed on cultured RHE treated with these cytokines showed that IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, and IL-24 regulate many of these same genes to variable degrees, inducing a gene expression profile consistent with inflammatory responses, wound healing re-epithelialization, and altered differentiation. Many of these genes have also been found to be up-regulated in psoriatic skin, including several chemokines, beta-defensins, S100 family proteins, and kallikreins. These results confirm that IL-20 subfamily cytokines are important regulators of epidermal KC biology with potentially pivotal roles in the immunopathology of psoriasis.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Case-control genetic studies of complex human diseases can be confounded by population stratification. This issue can be addressed using panels of ancestry informative markers (AIMs that can provide substantial population substructure information. Previously, we described a panel of 128 SNP AIMs that were designed as a tool for ascertaining the origins of subjects from Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Americas, and East Asia. Results In this study, genotypes from Human Genome Diversity Panel populations were used to further evaluate a 93 SNP AIM panel, a subset of the 128 AIMS set, for distinguishing continental origins. Using both model-based and relatively model-independent methods, we here confirm the ability of this AIM set to distinguish diverse population groups that were not previously evaluated. This study included multiple population groups from Oceana, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North and South America, and Europe. In addition, the 93 AIM set provides population substructure information that can, for example, distinguish Arab and Ashkenazi from Northern European population groups and Pygmy from other Sub-Saharan African population groups. Conclusion These data provide additional support for using the 93 AIM set to efficiently identify continental subject groups for genetic studies, to identify study population outliers, and to control for admixture in association studies.

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The discovery of genetic code alterations and expansions in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes abolished the hypothesis of a frozen and universal genetic code and exposed unanticipated flexibility in codon and amino acid assignments. It is now clear that codon identity alterations involve sense and non-sense codons and can occur in organisms with complex genomes and proteomes. However, the biological functions, the molecular mechanisms of evolution and the diversity of genetic code alterations remain largely unknown. In various species of the genus Candida, the leucine CUG codon is decoded as serine by a unique serine tRNA that contains a leucine 5'-CAG-3'anticodon (tRNA(CAG(Ser. We are using this codon identity redefinition as a model system to elucidate the evolution of genetic code alterations. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have reconstructed the early stages of the Candida genetic code alteration by engineering tRNAs that partially reverted the identity of serine CUG codons back to their standard leucine meaning. Such genetic code manipulation had profound cellular consequences as it exposed important morphological variation, altered gene expression, re-arranged the karyotype, increased cell-cell adhesion and secretion of hydrolytic enzymes. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study provides the first experimental evidence for an important role of genetic code alterations as generators of phenotypic diversity of high selective potential and supports the hypothesis that they speed up evolution of new phenotypes.

Antigen receptors on the T-cell surface are noncovalently associated with at least four invariant polypeptide chains, CD3-γ, -δ, -epsilon, and -zeta. The mouse CD3-γ gene, consisting of seven exons, was found to be highly homologous to the CD3-γ described earlier. Both the high level of sequence homology and the exon/intron organization indicate that the CD3-γ and -δ genes arose by gene duplication. Surprisingly, murine and human genomic DNA clones could be isolated that contained elements of both the CD3-γ and CD3-δ genes. In fact, the putative transcription start site of the mouse CD3-γ gene is less than 1.4 kilobases from the transcription initiation site of the mouse CD3-δ gene. Common elements that regulate the divergent transcription of the two genes are therefore proposed to be located in the intervening 1.4-kilobase DNA segment. This might contribute to the coordinate expression of the CD3-γ and -δ genes during intrathymic maturation of T lymphocytes

While the use of creatine in human pregnancy is yet to be fully evaluated, its long-term use in healthy adults appears to be safe, and its well documented neuroprotective properties have recently been extended by demonstrations that creatine improves cognitive function in normal and elderly people, and motor skills in sleep-deprived subjects. Creatine has many actions likely to benefit the fetus and newborn, because pregnancy is a state of heightened metabolic activity, and the placenta is a key source of free radicals of oxygen and nitrogen. The multiple benefits of supplementary creatine arise from the fact that the creatine-phosphocreatine [PCr] system has physiologically important roles that include maintenance of intracellular ATP and acid–base balance, post-ischaemic recovery of protein synthesis, cerebral vasodilation, antioxidant actions, and stabilisation of lipid membranes. In the brain, creatine not only reduces lipid peroxidation and improves cerebral perfusion, its interaction with the benzodiazepine site of the GABAA receptor is likely to counteract the effects of glutamate excitotoxicity – actions that may protect the preterm and term fetal brain from the effects of birth hypoxia. In this review we discuss the development of creatine synthesis during fetal life, the transfer of creatine from mother to fetus, and propose that creatine supplementation during pregnancy may have benefits for the fetus and neonate whenever oxidative stress or feto-placental hypoxia arise, as in cases of fetal growth restriction, premature birth, or when parturition is delayed or complicated by oxygen deprivation of the newborn. PMID:24766646

The genetic dissection of various human infectious diseases has led to the definition of inborn errors of human STAT1 immunity of four types, including (i) autosomal recessive (AR) complete STAT1 deficiency, (ii) AR partial STAT1 deficiency, (iii) autosomal dominant (AD) STAT1 deficiency, and (iv) AD gain of STAT1 activity. The two types of AR STAT1 defect give rise to a broad infectious phenotype with susceptibility to intramacrophagic bacteria (mostly mycobacteria) and viruses (herpes viruses at least), due principally to the impairment of IFN-γ-mediated and IFN-α/β-mediated immunity, respectively. Clinical outcome depends on the extent to which the STAT1 defect decreases responsiveness to these cytokines. AD STAT1 deficiency selectively predisposes individuals to mycobacterial disease, owing to the impairment of IFN-γ-mediated immunity, as IFN-α/β-mediated immunity is maintained. Finally, AD gain of STAT1 activity is associated with autoimmunity, probably owing to an enhancement of IFN-α/β-mediated immunity. More surprisingly, it is also associated with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, through as yet undetermined mechanisms involving an inhibition of the development of IL-17-producing T cells. Thus, germline mutations in human STAT1 define four distinct clinical disorders. Various combinations of viral, mycobacterial and fungal infections are therefore allelic at the human STAT1 locus. These experiments of Nature neatly highlight the clinical and immunological impact of the human genetic dissection of infectious phenotypes. PMID:22651901

Most circulating strains of Human enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) have been classified primarily into three genogroups (A to C) on the basis of genetic divergence between the 1D gene, which encodes the VP1 capsid protein. The aim of the present study was to provide further insights into the diversity of the EV-A71 genogroups following the recent description of highly divergent isolates, in particular those from African countries, including Madagascar. We classified recent EV-A71 isolates by a large comparison of 3,346 VP1 nucleotidic sequences collected from GenBank. Analysis of genetic distances and phylogenetic investigations indicated that some recently-reported isolates did not fall into the genogroups A-C and clustered into three additional genogroups, including one Indian genogroup (genogroup D) and 2 African ones (E and F). Our Bayesian phylogenetic analysis provided consistent data showing that the genogroup D isolates share a recent common ancestor with the members of genogroup E, while the isolates of genogroup F evolved from a recent common ancestor shared with the members of the genogroup B. Our results reveal the wide diversity that exists among EV-A71 isolates and suggest that the number of circulating genogroups is probably underestimated, particularly in developing countries where EV-A71 epidemiology has been poorly studied. PMID:24598878

Archaea are prokaryotic organisms distinct from bacteria in the structural and molecular biological sense, and these microorganisms are known to thrive mostly at extreme environments. In particular, most studies on halophilic archaea have been focused on environmental and ecological researches. However, new species of halophilic archaea are being isolated and identified from high salt-fermented foods consumed by humans, and it has been found that various types of halophilic archaea exist in food products by culture-independent molecular biological methods. In addition, even if the numbers are not quite high, DNAs of various halophilic archaea are being detected in human intestines and much interest is given to their possible roles. This review aims to summarize the types and characteristics of halophilic archaea reported to be present in foods and human intestines and to discuss their application as well.

To determine the distribution of integrins and calcium channels on major human and mouse host cells of Leptospira species. The expression of β1, β2 and β3 integrins was detected with immunofluorescence assay on the surface of human monocyte line THP-1, mouse mononuclear-macrophage-like cell line J774A.1, human vascular endothelial cell line HUVEC, mouse vascular endothelial cell EOMA, human hepatocyte line L-02, mouse hepatocyte line Hepa1-6, human renal tubular epithelial cell line HEK-293, mouse glomerular membrane epithelial cell line SV40-MES13, mouse collagen blast line NIH/3T3, human and mouse platelets. The distribution of voltage gate control calcium channels Cav3.1, Cav3.2, Cav3.3 and Cav2.3, and receptor gate calcium channels P(2)X(1), P(2)2X(2), P(2)X(3), P(2)X(4), P(2)X(5), P(2)X(6) and P(2)X(7) were determined with Western blot assay. β1 integrin proteins were positively expressed on the membrane surface of J774A.1, THP-1, HUVEC, EOMA, L-02, Hepa1-6 and HEK-239 cells as well as human and mouse platelets. β2 integrin proteins were expressed on the membrane surface of J774A.1, THP-1, HUVEC, EOMA, and NIH/3T3 cells. β3 integrin proteins were expressed on the membrane surface of J774A.1, THP-1, HUVEC, EOMA, Hepa1-6, HEK-239 and NIH/3T3 cells as well as human and mouse platelets. P(2)X(1) receptor gate calcium channel was expressed on the membrane surface of human and mouse platelets, while P(2)X(5) receptor gate calcium channel was expressed on the membrane surface of J774A.1, THP-1, L-02, Hepa1-6, HEK-239 and HUVEC cells. However, the other calcium channels were not detected on the tested cell lines or platelets. There is a large distribution diversity of integrins and calcium channel proteins on the major human and mouse host cells of Leptospira species, which may be associated with the differences of leptospira-induced injury in different host cells.

Manufacturing of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a synthetic chemical with a long half-life in humans, peaked between 1970 and 2002, and has since diminished. In the United States, PFOA is detected in the blood of >99% of people tested, but serum concentrations have decreased since 1999. Much is known about exposure to PFOA in drinking water; however, the impact of non-drinking water PFOA exposure on serum PFOA concentrations is not well characterized. The objective of this research is to apply physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling and Monte Carlo analysis to evaluate the impact of historic non-drinking water PFOA exposure on serum PFOA concentrations. In vitro to in vivo extrapolation was utilized to inform descriptions of PFOA transport in the kidney. Monte Carlo simulations were incorporated to evaluate factors that account for the large inter-individual variability of serum PFOA concentrations measured in individuals from North Alabama in 2010 and 2016, and the Mid-Ohio River Valley between 2005 and 2008. Predicted serum PFOA concentrations were within two-fold of experimental data. With incorporation of Monte Carlo simulations, the model successfully tracked the large variability of serum PFOA concentrations measured in populations from the Mid-Ohio River Valley. Simulation of exposure in a population of 45 adults from North Alabama successfully predicted 98% of individual serum PFOA concentrations measured in 2010 and 2016, respectively, when non-drinking water ingestion of PFOA exposure was included. Variation in serum PFOA concentrations may be due to inter-individual variability in the disposition of PFOA and potentially elevated historical non-drinking water exposures. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Diversity management is a process intended to create and maintain a positive work environment where the similarities and differences of individuals are valued. The literature on diversity management has mostly emphasized on organization culture; its impact on diversity openness; human resource management practices; institutional environments and organizational contexts to diversity-related pressures, expectations, requ...

Advances in high-throughput sequencing are reshaping how we perceive microbial communities inhabiting the human body, with implications for therapeutic interventions. Several large-scale datasets derived from hundreds of human microbiome samples sourced from multiple studies are now publicly available. However, idiosyncratic data processing methods between studies introduce systematic differences that confound comparative analyses. To overcome these challenges, we developed GutCyc, a compendium of environmental pathway genome databases (ePGDBs) constructed from 418 assembled human microbiome datasets using MetaPathways, enabling reproducible functional metagenomic annotation. We also generated metabolic network reconstructions for each metagenome using the Pathway Tools software, empowering researchers and clinicians interested in visualizing and interpreting metabolic pathways encoded by the human gut microbiome. For the first time, GutCyc provides consistent annotations and metabolic pathway predictions, making possible comparative community analyses between health and disease states in inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. GutCyc data products are searchable online, or may be downloaded and explored locally using MetaPathways and Pathway Tools.

Full Text Available and good practice in ecological sanitation. Treatments were arranged in a randomised complete block design with 4 replications and consisted of a control, 100 kg N.ha-1 as goat manure, and 4 non-zero rates of human manure and NPK fertiliser applied...

The literature abounds with solid evidence that affirms the ubiquitous presence of biogenic amines - polyamines, particularly spermidine and spermine, in all living cells together with their indispensable roles in many biochemical and physiological processes beneficial to plants as well as human hea...

Content analysis of 25 business college syllabi indicated that content skills related to diversity were being taught. Survey responses from 81 human resource managers suggested that college graduates were not adequately prepared to deal with diversity. Managers believed that process skills (team building, communication, managing and supervising…

Full Text Available Biogenic amines—polyamines (PAs, particularly putrescine, spermidine and spermine are ubiquitous in all living cells. Their indispensable roles in many biochemical and physiological processes are becoming commonly known, including promoters of plant life and differential roles in human health and disease. PAs positively impact cellular functions in plants—exemplified by increasing longevity, reviving physiological memory, enhancing carbon and nitrogen resource allocation/signaling, as well as in plant development and responses to extreme environments. Thus, one or more PAs are commonly found in genomic and metabolomics studies using plants, particulary during different abiotic stresses. In humans, a general decline in PA levels with aging occurs parallel with some human health disorders. Also, high PA dose is detrimental to patients suffering from cancer, aging, innate immunity and cognitive impairment during Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases. A dichotomy exists in that while PAs may increase longevity and reduce some age-associated cardiovascular diseases, in disease conditions involving higher cellular proliferation, their intake has negative consequences. Thus, it is essential that PA levels be rigorously quantified in edible plant sources as well as in dietary meats. Such a database can be a guide for medical experts in order to recommend which foods/meats a patient may consume and which ones to avoid. Accordingly, designing both high and low polyamine diets for human consumption are in vogue, particularly in medical conditions where PA intake may be detrimental, for instance, cancer patients. In this review, literature data has been collated for the levels of the three main PAs, putrescine, spermidine and spermine, in different edible sources—vegetables, fruits, cereals, nuts, meat, sea food, cheese, milk, and eggs. Based on our analysis of vast literature, the effects of PAs in human/animal health fall into two broad, Yang and Yin

Biogenic amines – polyamines (PAs), particularly putrescine, spermidine and spermine (and thermospermine) are ubiquitous in all living cells. Their indispensable roles in many biochemical and physiological processes are becoming commonly known, including promoters of plant life and differential roles in human health and disease. PAs positively impact cellular functions in plants – exemplified by increasing longevity, reviving physiological memory, enhancing carbon and nitrogen resource allocation/signaling, as well as in plant development and responses to extreme environments. Thus, one or more PAs are commonly found in genomic and metabolomics studies using plants, particulary during different abiotic stresses. In humans, a general decline in PA levels with aging occurs parallel with some human health disorders. Also, high PA dose is detrimental to patients suffering from cancer, aging, innate immunity and cognitive impairment during Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases. A dichotomy exists in that while PAs may increase longevity and reduce some age-associated cardiovascular diseases, in disease conditions involving higher cellular proliferation, their intake has negative consequences. Thus, it is essential that PA levels be rigorously quantified in edible plant sources as well as in dietary meats. Such a database can be a guide for medical experts in order to recommend which foods/meats a patient may consume and which ones to avoid. Accordingly, designing both high and low polyamine diets for human consumption are in vogue, particularly in medical conditions where PA intake may be detrimental, for instance, cancer patients. In this review, literature data has been collated for the levels of the three main PAs, putrescine, spermidine and spermine, in different edible sources - vegetables, fruits, cereals, nuts, meat, sea food, cheese, milk and eggs. Based on our analysis of vast literature, the effects of PAs in human/animal health fall into two broad, Yang and

An important application of semantic web technology is recognizing human-defined concepts in text. Query transformation is a strategy often used in search engines to derive queries that are able to return more useful search results than the original query and most popular search engines provide

Proteases are essential for tumour progression and many are over-expressed during this time. The main focus of research was the role of these proteases in degradation of the basement membrane and extracellular matrix (ECM), thereby enabling metastasis to occur. Cancer procoagulant (CP), a protease present in malignant tumours, but not normal tissue, is a known activator of coagulation factor X (FX). The present study investigated the function of CP in cancer progression by focussing on its enzymatic specificity. FX cleavage was confirmed using SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF MS and compared to the proteolytic action of CP on ECM proteins, including collagen type IV, laminin and fibronectin. Contrary to previous reports, CP cleaved FX at the conventional activation site (between Arg-52 and Ile-53). Additionally, degradation of FX by CP occurred at a much slower rate than degradation by conventional activators. Complete degradation of the heavy chain of FX was only visible after 24 h, while degradation by RVV was complete after 30 min, supporting postulations that the procoagulant function of CP may be of secondary importance to its role in cancer progression. Of the ECM proteins tested, only fibronectin was cleaved. The substrate specificity of CP was further investigated by screening synthetic peptide substrates using a novel direct CP assay. The results indicate that CP is not essential for either cancer-associated blood coagulation or the degradation of ECM proteins. Rather, they suggest that this protease may be required for the proteolytic activation of membrane receptors.

The authors measured the human pim-1 protooncogene (PIM) expression during fetal development and in hematopoietic malignancies. The data indicate that during human fetal hematopoiesis the 33-kDa pim product, p33pim, is highly expressed in the liver and the spleen. In contrast, a the adult stage it is only slightly expressed in circulating granulocytes. Out of 70 hematopoietic malignancies analyzed, 51 patients and 19 cell lines, p33pim was overexpressed in ∼ 30% of the samples, particularly in myeloid and lymphoid acute leukemias. This overexpression was unrelated to any stage of cellular differentiation and was not due to gene rearrangement or amplification. These results imply a physiological role of the pim-1 protooncogene during hematopoietic development and a deregulation in various leukemias

The geostrategic location of North Africa as a crossroad between three continents and as a stepping-stone outside Africa has evoked anthropological and genetic interest in this region. Numerous studies have described the genetic landscape of the human population in North Africa employing paternal, maternal, and biparental molecular markers. However, information from these markers which have different inheritance patterns has been mostly assessed independently, resulting in an incomplete descr...

Full Text Available Abstract Background Phosphorylation by protein kinases is a common event in many cellular processes. Further, many kinases perform specialized roles and are regulated by non-kinase domains tethered to kinase domain. Perturbation in the regulation of kinases leads to malignancy. We have identified and analysed putative protein kinases encoded in the genome of chimpanzee which is a close evolutionary relative of human. Result The shared core biology between chimpanzee and human is characterized by many orthologous protein kinases which are involved in conserved pathways. Domain architectures specific to chimp/human kinases have been observed. Chimp kinases with unique domain architectures are characterized by deletion of one or more non-kinase domains in the human kinases. Interestingly, counterparts of some of the multi-domain human kinases in chimp are characterized by identical domain architectures but with kinase-like non-kinase domain. Remarkably, out of 587 chimpanzee kinases no human orthologue with greater than 95% sequence identity could be identified for 160 kinases. Variations in chimpanzee kinases compared to human kinases are brought about also by differences in functions of domains tethered to the catalytic kinase domain. For example, the heterodimer forming PB1 domain related to the fold of ubiquitin/Ras-binding domain is seen uniquely tethered to PKC-like chimpanzee kinase. Conclusion Though the chimpanzee and human are evolutionary very close, there are chimpanzee kinases with no close counterpart in the humansuggesting differences in their functions. This analysis provides a direction for experimental analysis of human and chimpanzee protein kinases in order to enhance our understanding on their specific biological roles.

Throughout history, divides between the sciences and the humanities have been drawn in many different ways. This essay shows that the notion of a divide became more urgent and pronounced in the second half of the nineteenth century. While this shift has several causes, the essay focuses on the rise of the social sciences, which is interpreted as posing a profound challenge to the established disciplines of the study of humankind. This is demonstrated by zooming in on linguistics, one of the key traditional disciplines of the humanities. Through the assumption of a correspondence between mental and linguistic categories, psychology became of central importance in the various conceptions of linguistics that emerged in the nineteenth century. Both linguistics and psychology were very much engaged in a process of discipline formation, and opinions about the proper directions of the fields varied considerably. Debates on these issues catalyzed the construction of more radical divisions between the sciences and the humanities. Both Wilhelm Dilthey's dichotomy between understanding and explanation and Wilhelm Windelband's dichotomy between nomothetic and idiographic sciences respond to these debates. While their constructions are often lumped together, the essay shows that they actually meant very different things and have to be treated accordingly.

Acrolein is a highly toxic electrophile that participates in many diseases, yet efforts to delineate its precise mechanistic contributions to specific conditions are complicated by its wide distribution within human environments. This Perspective develops the proposal that due to its mixed status as environmental pollutant, metabolic byproduct, and endotoxicant which forms via ubiquitous pathophysiological processes, many diseases likely involve acrolein released from multiple sources. Although the category boundaries are indistinct, at least four identifiable exposure scenarios are identifiable. First, in some syndromes, such as those accompanying chronic or acute intoxication with smoke, whatever role acrolein plays in disease pathogenesis mainly traces to exogenous sources such as the combustion of tobacco or other organic matter. A second exposure category involves xenobiotics that undergo metabolism within the body to release acrolein. Still other health conditions, however, involve acrolein that forms via several endogenous pathways, some of which are activated upon intoxication with xenobiotics (i.e., Exposure Category 3), while still others accompany direct physical trauma to body tissues (Exposure Category 4). Further complicating efforts to clarify the role of endogenous acrolein in human disease is the likelihood that many such syndromes are complex phenomena that resemble "chemical mixture exposures" by involving multiple toxic substances simultaneously. This Perspective contends that while recent decades have witnessed much progress in describing the deleterious effects of acrolein at the cellular and molecular levels, more work is needed to define the contributions of different acrolein sources to "real-world" health conditions in human subjects.

Genome-wide association studies have failed to establish common variant risk for the majority of common human diseases. The underlying reasons for this failure are explained by recent studies of resequencing and comparison of over 1200 human genomes and 10 000 exomes, together with the delineation of DNA methylation patterns (epigenome) and full characterization of coding and noncoding RNAs (transcriptome) being transcribed. These studies have provided the most comprehensive catalogues of functional elements and genetic variants that are now available for global integrative analysis and experimental validation in prospective cohort studies. With these datasets, researchers will have unparalleled opportunities for the alignment, mining, and testing of hypotheses for the roles of specific genetic variants, including copy number variations, single nucleotide polymorphisms, and indels as the cause of specific phenotypes and diseases. Through the use of next-generation sequencing technologies for genotyping and standardized ontological annotation to systematically analyze the effects of genomic variation on humans and model organism phenotypes, we will be able to find candidate genes and new clues for disease's etiology and treatment. This article describes essential concepts in genetics and genomic technologies as well as the emerging computational framework to comprehensively search websites and platforms available for the analysis and interpretation of genomic data.

To obtain detailed information on the diversity of infectious norovirus in oysters (Crossostrea gigas), oysters obtained from fish producers at six different sites (sites A, B, C, D, E, and F) in Japan were analyzed once a month during the period spanning October 2015-February 2016. To avoid false-positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results derived from noninfectious virus particles, samples were pretreated with RNase before reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). RT-PCR products were subjected to next-generation sequencing to identify norovirus genotypes in oysters. As a result, all GI genotypes were detected in the investigational period. The detection rate and proportion of norovirus GI genotypes differed depending on the sampling site and month. GII.3, GII.4, GII.13, GII.16, and GII.17 were detected in this study. Both the detection rate and proportion of norovirus GII genotypes differed depending on the sampling site and month. In total, the detection rate and proportion of GII.3 were highest from October to December among all detected genotypes. In January, the detection rates of GII.4 and GII.17 reached the same level as that of GII.3. The proportion of GII.17 was relatively lower from October to December, whereas it was the highest in January. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation on noroviruses in oysters in Japan, based on a method that can distinguish their infectivity.

Full Text Available Worldwide circulating HIV-1 genomes show extensive variation represented by different subtypes, polymorphisms and drug-resistant strains. Reports on the impact of sequence variation on antiretroviral therapy (ART outcomes are mixed. In this review, we summarize relevant published data from both resource-rich and resource-limited countries in the last 10 years on the impact of HIV-1 sequence diversity on treatment outcomes. The prevalence of transmission of drug resistant mutations (DRMs varies considerably, ranging from 0% to 27% worldwide. Factors such as geographic location, access and availability to ART, duration since inception of treatment programs, quality of care, risk-taking behaviors, mode of transmission, and viral subtype all dictate the prevalence in a particular geographical region. Although HIV-1 subtype may not be a good predictor of treatment outcome, review of emerging evidence supports the fact that HIV-1 genome sequence-resulting from natural polymorphisms or drug-associated mutations-matters when it comes to treatment outcomes. Therefore, continued surveillance of drug resistant variants in both treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced populations is needed to reduce the transmission of DRMs and to optimize the efficacy of the current ART armamentarium.

Full Text Available Sandfly prevalence in the Kani tribe settlements of Western Ghats in India was investigated. A total of 1,279 sandflies comprising 17 species was obtained. Sandfly abundance showed a negative correlation (r = -0.97, p = 0.003 with increase in altitudinal ranges from 0-1,000 m. When sandfly samples were grouped according to landscape characteristics of the location, the estimated Shannon-Weiner index (H and species richness index (S were high and species evenness index (J was low in settlements located at 0-300 m altitudinal range. On the contrary, the values of H and J were high, while S was low at 301-600 m altitudinal range. With further increase in altitude, species diversity, S and J were low. Though the relative abundance of sandflies decreased with increase in altitude, the influence of altitudinal variation could not be attributed to determine sandfly diversity, since the number of sampling units were not uniform at all the altitudinal gradients due to nonavailability of suitable resting shelters. Sandfly species showed great aggregation at 0-300 m altitude interval, where not only the number of settlements were maximum (n = 19, but also the environmental conditions favoured sandfly abundance due to the concentration of tribal settlements, human dwellings and his activities.

Sandfly prevalence in the Kani tribe settlements of Western Ghats in India was investigated. A total of 1,279 sandflies comprising 17 species was obtained. Sandfly abundance showed a negative correlation (r = -0.97, p = 0.003) with increase in altitudinal ranges from 0-1,000 m. When sandfly samples were grouped according to landscape characteristics of the location, the estimated Shannon-Weiner index (H) and species richness index (S) were high and species evenness index (J) was low in settlements located at 0-300 m altitudinal range. On the contrary, the values of H and J were high, while S was low at 301-600 m altitudinal range. With further increase in altitude, species diversity, S and J were low. Though the relative abundance of sandflies decreased with increase in altitude, the influence of altitudinal variation could not be attributed to determine sandfly diversity, since the number of sampling units were not uniform at all the altitudinal gradients due to nonavailability of suitable resting shelters. Sandfly species showed great aggregation at 0-300 m altitude interval, where not only the number of settlements were maximum (n = 19), but also the environmental conditions favoured sandfly abundance due to the concentration of tribal settlements, human dwellings and his activities.

Full Text Available Land use and land cover (LULC change through inappropriate agricultural practices and high human and livestock population pressure have led to severe land degradation in the Ethiopian highlands. This has led to further degradation such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, and soil erosion. The study examined woody vegetation diversity status and the impact of drivers of change across different LULC types and agroecological zones in Gilgel Tekeze catchment, northern Ethiopian highlands. LULC dynamics were assessed using GIS techniques on 1976, 1986, and 2008 satellite images. Vegetation data were collected from 135 sample plots (20 m × 20 m from five LULC types, namely, forest, shrub-bush, grazing, settlement, and cultivated land, in the three agroecological zones; Kolla, Weyna-Dega, and Dega. Differences in vegetation structure and composition and their relationship to agroecological zones were tested using two-way ANOVA and PCA technique. The results show that vegetation structure and composition significantly differed across all LULC types in different agroecological zones particularly in sapling density, tree height, and shrub height and in each agroecological zone between forest land, shrub-bush land, and settlement area. Overall, Weyna-Dega agroecological zone and the shrub-bush land had more structural and compositional diversity than the other agroecological zones and LULC types.

Full Text Available Human rhinoviruses (HRVs are the most prevalent human pathogens, and consist of 101 serotypes that are classified into groups A and B according to sequence variations. HRV infections cause a wide spectrum of clinical outcomes ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe lower respiratory symptoms. Defining the role of specific strains in various HRV illnesses has been difficult because traditional serology, which requires viral culture and neutralization tests using 101 serotype-specific antisera, is insensitive and laborious.To directly type HRVs in nasal secretions of infants with frequent respiratory illnesses, we developed a sensitive molecular typing assay based on phylogenetic comparisons of a 260-bp variable sequence in the 5' noncoding region with homologous sequences of the 101 known serotypes. Nasal samples from 26 infants were first tested with a multiplex PCR assay for respiratory viruses, and HRV was the most common virus found (108 of 181 samples. Typing was completed for 101 samples and 103 HRVs were identified. Surprisingly, 54 (52.4% HRVs did not match any of the known serotypes and had 12-35% nucleotide divergence from the nearest reference HRVs. Of these novel viruses, 9 strains (17 HRVs segregated from HRVA, HRVB and human enterovirus into a distinct genetic group ("C". None of these new strains could be cultured in traditional cell lines.By molecular analysis, over 50% of HRV detected in sick infants were previously unrecognized strains, including 9 strains that may represent a new HRV group. These findings indicate that the number of HRV strains is considerably larger than the 101 serotypes identified with traditional diagnostic techniques, and provide evidence of a new HRV group.

is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been....... confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance...

The most remarkable feature of the inclusion suite in ultradeep alluvial and kimberlitic diamonds from Sao Luiz (Juina area in Brazil) is the enormous range in Mg# [100xMg/(Mg + Fe)] of the ferropericlases (fper). The Mg-richer ferropericlases are from the boundary to the lower mantle or from the lower mantle itself when they coexist with ringwoodite or Mg- perovskite (bridgmanite). This, however, is not an explanation for the more Fe-rich members and a lowermost mantle or a "D" layer origin has been proposed for them. Such a suggested ultra-deep origin separates the Fe-rich fper-bearing diamonds from the rest of the Sao Luiz ultradeep diamond inclusion suite, which also contains Ca-rich phases. These are now thought to have an origin in the uppermost lower mantle and in the transition zone and to belong either to a peridotitic or mafic (subducted oceanic crust) protolith lithology. We analysed a new set of more Fe-rich ferropericlase inclusions from 10 Sao Luiz ultradeep alluvial diamonds for their Li isotope composition by solution MC-ICP-MS (multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry), their major and minor elements by EPMA (electron probe micro-analyser) and their Li-contents by SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry), with the aim to understand the origin of the ferropericlase protoliths. Our new data confirm the wide range of ferropericlase Mg# that were reported before and augment the known lack of correlation between major and minor elements. Four pooled ferropericlase inclusions from four diamonds provided sufficient material to determine for the first time their Li isotope composition, which ranges from δ7Li + 9.6 ‰ to -3.9 ‰. This wide Li isotopic range encompasses that of serpentinized ocean floor peridotites including rodingites and ophicarbonates, fresh and altered MORB (mid ocean ridge basalt), seafloor sediments and of eclogites. This large range in Li isotopic composition, up to 5 times higher than `primitive upper mantle' Li

Full Text Available Scientists have tried to reprogram various origins of primary cells into human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs. Every somatic cell can theoretically become a hiPSC and give rise to targeted cells of the human body. However, there have been debates on the controversy about the differentiation propensity according to the origin of primary cells. We reprogrammed hiPSCs from four different types of primary cells such as dermal fibroblasts (DF, n=3, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC, n=3, cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC, n=3, and osteoarthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes (OAFLS, n=3. Established hiPSCs were differentiated into chondrogenic pellets. All told, cartilage-specific markers tended to express more by the order of CBMC > DF > PBMC > FLS. Origin of primary cells may influence the reprogramming and differentiation thereafter. In the context of chondrogenic propensity, CBMC-derived hiPSCs can be a fairly good candidate cell source for cartilage regeneration. The differentiation of hiPSCs into chondrocytes may help develop “cartilage in a dish” in the future. Also, the ideal cell source of hiPSC for chondrogenesis may contribute to future application as well.

Antifolates, folate analogs that inhibit vitamin B9 (folic acid)-using cellular enzymes, have been used over several decades for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Cellular uptake of the antifolates in clinical use occurs primarily via widely expressed facilitative membrane transporters. More recently, human folate receptors (FRs), high affinity receptors that transport folate via endocytosis, have been proposed as targets for the specific delivery of new classes of antifolates or folate conjugates to tumors or sites of inflammation. The development of specific, FR-targeted antifolates would be accelerated if additional biophysical data, particularly structural models of the receptors, were available. Here we describe six distinct crystallographic models that provide insight into biological trafficking of FRs and distinct binding modes of folate and antifolates to these receptors. From comparison of the structures, we delineate discrete structural conformations representative of key stages in the endocytic trafficking of FRs and propose models for pH-dependent conformational changes. Additionally, we describe the molecular details of human FR in complex with three clinically prevalent antifolates, pemetrexed (also Alimta), aminopterin, and methotrexate. On the whole, our data form the basis for rapid design and implementation of unique, FR-targeted, folate-based drugs for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Vaccine development faces major difficulties partly because of genetic variation in both infectious organisms and humans. This causes antigenic variation in infectious agents and a high interindividual variability in the human response to the vaccine. The exponential growth of genome sequence information has induced a shift from conventional culture-based to genome-based vaccinology, and allows the tackling of challenges in vaccine development due to pathogen genetic variability. Additionally, recent advances in immunogenetics and genomics should help in the understanding of the influence of genetic factors on the interindividual and interpopulation variations in immune responses to vaccines, and could be useful for developing new vaccine strategies. Accumulating results provide evidence for the existence of a number of genes involved in protective immune responses that are induced either by natural infections or vaccines. Variation in immune responses could be viewed as the result of a perturbation of gene networks; this should help in understanding how a particular polymorphism or a combination thereof could affect protective immune responses. Here we will present: i) the first genome-based vaccines that served as proof of concept, and that provided new critical insights into vaccine development strategies; ii) an overview of genetic predisposition in infectious diseases and genetic control in responses to vaccines; iii) population genetic differences that are a rationale behind group-targeted vaccines; iv) an outlook for genetic control in infectious diseases, with special emphasis on the concept of molecular networks that will provide a structure to the huge amount of genomic data

In Western secular societies, spiritual life is no longer limited to classical religious institutions but can also be found at workplace organizations. While spirituality is conventionally understood as a subjective and internal process, this paper proposes the concept of ‘suggestive objects......’, constructed by combining insights from Gabriel Tarde's sociology with Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, to theorize the material dimension of organizational spirituality. The sacred in organizations arises not from the internalization of collective values but through the establishment of material...... scaffolding. This has deep implications for our understanding of the sacred, including a better appreciation of the way that suggestive objects make the sacred durable, the way they organize it....

The metabolism of the anticonvulsant mephenytoin is subject to a genetic polymorphism. In 2-5% of Caucasians and 18-23% of Japanese subjects a specific cytochrome P-450 isozyme, P-450 meph, is functionally deficient or missing. The authors have accumulated evidence that autoimmune antibodies observed in sera of patients with tienilic acid induced hepatitis (anti-liver kidney microsome 2 or anti-LKM2 antibodies) specifically recognize the cytochrome P-450 involved in the mephrenytoin hydroxylation polymorphism. This is demonstrated by immunoinhibition and immunoprecipitation of microsomal (S)-mephenytoin 4-hydroxylation activity and by the recognition by anti-LKM2 antibodies of a single [ 125 I]-protein band on immunoblots of human liver microsomes after sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or isoelectric focusing. The cytochrome P-450 recognized by anti-LKM2 antibodies was immunopurified from microsomes derived from livers of extensive (EM) or poor metabolizers (PM) of (S)-mephenytoin. Comparison of the EM-type cytochrome P-450 to that isolated from PM livers revealed no difference in regard to immuno-cross-reactivity, molecular weight, isoelectric point, relative content in microsomes, two-dimensional tryptic peptide maps, one-dimensional peptide maps with three proteases, amino acid composition, and amino-terminal protein sequence. Finally, the same protein was precipitated from microsomes prepared from the liver biopsy of a subject phenotyped in vivo as a poor metabolizer of mephenytoin. These data strongly suggest that the mephenytoin hydroxylation deficiency is caused by a minor structural change leading to a functionally altered cytochrome P-450 isozyme

Cheiloscopy is a comparatively recent counterpart to the long established dactyloscopic studies. Ethnic variability of these lip groove patterns has not yet been explored. This study was a collaborative effort aimed at establishing cheiloscopic variations amongst modern human populations from four geographically and culturally far removed nations: India, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Nigeria. Lip prints from a total of 754 subjects were collected and each was divided into four equal quadrants. The patterns were classified into six regular types (A-F), while some patterns which could not be fitted into the regular ones were segregated into G groups (G-0, G-1, G-2). Furthermore, co-dominance of more than one pattern type in a single quadrant forced us to identify the combination (COM, G-COM) patterns. The remarkable feature noted after compilation of the data included pattern C (a bifurcate/branched prototype extending the entire height of the lip) being a frequent feature of the lips of all the populations studied, save for the Nigerian population in which it was completely absent and which showed a tendency for pattern A (a vertical linear groove) and a significantly higher susceptibility for combination (COM) patterns. Chi-square test and correspondence analysis applied to the frequency of patterns appearing in the defined topographical areas indicated a significant variation for the populations studied.

Post-transcriptional 3' end processing is a key component of RNA regulation. The abundant and essential RNA subunit of RNase MRP has been proposed to function in three distinct cellular compartments and therefore may utilize this mode of regulation. Here we employ 3' RACE coupled with high-throughput sequencing to characterize the 3' terminal sequences of human MRP RNA and other noncoding RNAs that form RNP complexes. The 3' terminal sequence of MRP RNA from HEK293T cells has a distinctive distribution of genomically encoded termini (including an assortment of U residues) with a portion of these selectively tagged by oligo(A) tails. This profile contrasts with the relatively homogenous 3' terminus of an in vitro transcribed MRP RNA control and the differing 3' terminal profiles of U3 snoRNA, RNase P RNA, and telomerase RNA (hTR). 3' RACE coupled with deep sequencing provides a valuable framework for the functional characterization of 3' terminal sequences of noncoding RNAs.

Background Post-transcriptional 3′ end processing is a key component of RNA regulation. The abundant and essential RNA subunit of RNase MRP has been proposed to function in three distinct cellular compartments and therefore may utilize this mode of regulation. Here we employ 3′ RACE coupled with high-throughput sequencing to characterize the 3′ terminal sequences of human MRP RNA and other noncoding RNAs that form RNP complexes. Results The 3′ terminal sequence of MRP RNA from HEK293T cells has a distinctive distribution of genomically encoded termini (including an assortment of U residues) with a portion of these selectively tagged by oligo(A) tails. This profile contrasts with the relatively homogenous 3′ terminus of an in vitro transcribed MRP RNA control and the differing 3′ terminal profiles of U3 snoRNA, RNase P RNA, and telomerase RNA (hTR). Conclusions 3′ RACE coupled with deep sequencing provides a valuable framework for the functional characterization of 3′ terminal sequences of noncoding RNAs. PMID:24053768

Full Text Available Under the present investigation Actinomycetes were isolated from the soils of Myristica swamps of southern Western Ghats and the antagonistic activity against different human bacterial pathogens was evaluated. Results of the present study revealed that Actinomycetes population in the soils of Myristica swamp was spatially and seasonally varied. Actinomycetes load was varied from 24×104 to 71×103, from 129×103 to 40×103 and from 31×104 to 84×103 in post monsoon, monsoon and pre monsoon respectively. A total of 23 Actinomycetes strains belonging to six genera were isolated from swamp soils. Identification of the isolates showed that most of the isolates belonged to the genus Streptomyces (11, followed by Nocardia (6, Micromonospora (3, Pseudonocardia (1, Streptosporangium (1, and Nocardiopsis (1. Antagonistic studies revealed that 91.3% of Actinomycete isolates were active against one or more tested pathogens, of that 56.52% exhibited activity against Gram negative and 86.95% showed activity against Gram positive bacteria. 39.13% isolates were active against all the bacterial pathogens selected and its inhibition zone diameter was also high. 69.5% of Actinomycetes were exhibited antibacterial activity against Listeria followed by Bacillus cereus (65.21%, Staphylococcus (60.86%, Vibrio cholera (52.17%, Salmonella (52.17% and E. coli (39.13%. The results indicate that the Myristica swamp soils of Southern Western Ghats might be a remarkable reserve of Actinomycetes with potential antagonistic activity.

β-Defensins are small secreted antimicrobial and signaling peptides involved in the innate immune response of vertebrates. In humans, a cluster of at least 7 of these genes shows extensive copy number variation, with a diploid copy number commonly ranging between 2 and 7. Using a genetic mapping approach, we show that this cluster is at not 1 but 2 distinct genomic loci ≈5 Mb apart on chromosome band 8p23.1, contradicting the most recent genome assembly. We also demonstrate that the predominant mechanism of change in β-defensin copy number is simple allelic recombination occurring in the interval between the 2 distinct genomic loci for these genes. In 416 meiotic transmissions, we observe 3 events creating a haplotype copy number not found in the parent, equivalent to a germ-line rate of copy number change of ≈0.7% per gamete. This places it among the fastest-changing copy number variants currently known. PMID:19131514

Structural variation (SV) influences genome organization and contributes to human disease. However, the complete mutational spectrum of SV has not been routinely captured in disease association studies. We sequenced 689 participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental abnormalities to construct a genome-wide map of large SV. Using long-insert jumping libraries at 105X mean physical coverage and linked-read whole-genome sequencing from 10X Genomics, we document seven major SV classes at ~5 kb SV resolution. Our results encompass 11,735 distinct large SV sites, 38.1% of which are novel and 16.8% of which are balanced or complex. We characterize 16 recurrent subclasses of complex SV (cxSV), revealing that: (1) cxSV are larger and rarer than canonical SV; (2) each genome harbors 14 large cxSV on average; (3) 84.4% of large cxSVs involve inversion; and (4) most large cxSV (93.8%) have not been delineated in previous studies. Rare SVs are more likely to disrupt coding and regulatory non-coding loci, particularly when truncating constrained and disease-associated genes. We also identify multiple cases of catastrophic chromosomal rearrangements known as chromoanagenesis, including somatic chromoanasynthesis, and extreme balanced germline chromothripsis events involving up to 65 breakpoints and 60.6 Mb across four chromosomes, further defining rare categories of extreme cxSV. These data provide a foundational map of large SV in the morbid human genome and demonstrate a previously underappreciated abundance and diversity of cxSV that should be considered in genomic studies of human disease.

Full Text Available Chlamydia pneumoniae is a common human and animal pathogen associated with a wide range of diseases. Since the first isolation of C. pneumoniae TWAR in 1965, all human isolates have been essentially clonal, providing little evolutionary insight. To address this gap, we investigated the genetic diversity of 30 isolates from diverse geographical locations, from both human and animal origin (amphibian, reptilian, equine and marsupial. Based on the level of variation that we observed at 23 discreet gene loci, it was clearly evident that the animal isolates were more diverse than the isolates of human origin. Furthermore, we show that C. pneumoniae isolates could be grouped into five major genotypes, A-E, with A, B, D and E genotypes linked by geographical location, whereas genotype C was found across multiple continents. Our evidence strongly supports two separate animal-to-human cross species transfer events in the evolutionary history of this pathogen. The C. pneumoniae human genotype identified in the USA, Canada, Taiwan, Iran, Japan, Korea and Australia (non-Indigenous most likely originated from a single amphibian or reptilian lineage, which appears to have been previously geographically widespread. We identified a separate human lineage present in two Australian Indigenous isolates (independent geographical locations. This lineage is distinct and is present in Australian amphibians as well as a range of Australian marsupials.

Genomes usually contain some non-repetitive sequences that are missing from the reference genome and occur only in a population subset. Such non-repetitive, non-reference (NRNR) sequences have remained largely unexplored in terms of their characterization and downstream analyses. Here we describe 3,791 breakpoint-resolved NRNR sequence variants called using PopIns from whole-genome sequence data of 15,219 Icelanders. We found that over 95% of the 244 NRNR sequences that are 200 bp or longer are present in chimpanzees, indicating that they are ancestral. Furthermore, 149 variant loci are in linkage disequilibrium (r 2 > 0.8) with a genome-wide association study (GWAS) catalog marker, suggesting disease relevance. Additionally, we report an association (P = 3.8 × 10 -8 , odds ratio (OR) = 0.92) with myocardial infarction (23,360 cases, 300,771 controls) for a 766-bp NRNR sequence variant. Our results underline the importance of including variation of all complexity levels when searching for variants that associate with disease.

Fungi have a complex role in the intestinal tract, influencing health and disease, with dysbiosis contributing to obesity. Our objectives were to investigate fungal diversity in human gut microbiota among eutrophic, overweight, and obese. Epidemiological and nutritional information were collected from adult individuals, as well as stool samples processed for selective fungi isolation and identification by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (yeasts) or microculture (filamentous fungi). Further 18S rDNA sequencing was performed to confirm identification. The mean count of fungi was 241 CFU/g of feces. Differences in the population level of the filamentous fungi were observed within eutrophic and obese groups. Overall, 34 genera were identified. The predominant phylum was Ascomycota with 20 different genera, followed by Basidiomycota and Zygomycota. As for Ascomycota, the most prevalent species were Paecilomyces sp., Penicillium sp., Candida sp., Aspergillus sp., Fonsecaea sp., and Geotrichum sp. (76.39, 65.28, 59.72, 58.33, 12.50, and 9.72%, respectively). As for Basidiomycota, Trichosporon sp. and Rhodotorula sp. were the most prevalent (30.56 and 15.28%, respectively), and for Zygomycota, Rhizopus sp. and Mucor sp. were the most numerous (15.28 and 9.72%, respectively). As expected there is a mycobiota shift towards obesity, with slightly higher diversity associated to eutrophic individuals. This mycobiota shift seems also to be related to the nutritional behavior of the individuals, as observed that the macronutrients intake may be positively related to the different fungi occurrences. Other studies are needed to better understand relationships between mycobiota and obesity, which could be used in future obesity treatments.

Viruses make up a major component of the human microbiota but are poorly understood in the skin, our primary barrier to the external environment. Viral communities have the potential to modulate states of cutaneous health and disease. Bacteriophages are known to influence the structure and function of microbial communities through predation and genetic exchange. Human viruses are associated with skin cancers and a multitude of cutaneous manifestations. Despite these important roles, little is known regarding the human skin virome and its interactions with the host microbiome. Here we evaluated the human cutaneous double-stranded DNA virome by metagenomic sequencing of DNA from purified virus-like particles (VLPs). In parallel, we employed metagenomic sequencing of the total skin microbiome to assess covariation and infer interactions with the virome. Samples were collected from 16 subjects at eight body sites over 1 month. In addition to the microenviroment, which is known to partition the bacterial and fungal microbiota, natural skin occlusion was strongly associated with skin virome community composition. Viral contigs were enriched for genes indicative of a temperate phage replication style and also maintained genes encoding potential antibiotic resistance and virulence factors. CRISPR spacers identified in the bacterial DNA sequences provided a record of phage predation and suggest a mechanism to explain spatial partitioning of skin phage communities. Finally, we modeled the structure of bacterial and phage communities together to reveal a complex microbial environment with a Corynebacterium hub. These results reveal the previously underappreciated diversity, encoded functions, and viral-microbial dynamic unique to the human skin virome. To date, most cutaneous microbiome studies have focused on bacterial and fungal communities. Skin viral communities and their relationships with their hosts remain poorly understood despite their potential to modulate states

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a preventable disease that plays a causative role in a significant proportion of malignant neoplasms of the head and neck. Inner-city populations are at risk for HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, are least likely to receive HPV vaccination, and report a lack of information regarding HPV. To determine whether an educational platform affects knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding HPV vaccination in an inner-city community. This prospective cohort study, conducted from March 1 to December 31, 2014, surveyed 128 participants at multiple inner-city community centers regarding their knowledge of, attitudes toward, and practices regarding HPV vaccination before and after a brief educational presentation. No eligible individuals refused to participate in the educational session. Surveys were excluded from analysis if they were incomplete. Participants completed two 20-question surveys separated by a 15-minute educational session on HPV-related disease, including a short PowerPoint presentation. Presence of statistically significant differences in survey scores before and after the educational session. Eighty-six participants met eligibility criteria (61 male [70.9%]; 68 with a high school education [79.1%]). Baseline knowledge of HPV, its causal association with cancer, and the existence of a vaccine against HPV were poor: of a total composite score of 20, the mean knowledge score before the educational session was 9.69. Participants' self-rated knowledge regarding HPV disease and vaccination improved significantly as a result of the educational session; the absolute increase in mean knowledge composite score from before the educational session to after the session was 3.52 (17.6%) (95% CI, -2.87 to 9.92; P government involvement in vaccination did not change as a result of the educational session (composite attitudes score before the educational session, 16.57 of 28; score after the session, 15.22; P = .98). Participants' intent

Rhinoviruses are the most common causes of the common cold. Their many distinct lineages fall into "major" and "minor" groups that use different cell surface receptors to enter host cells. Minor-group rhinoviruses are more immunogenic in laboratory studies, although their patterns of transmission and their cold symptoms are broadly similar to those of the major group. Here we present evolutionary evidence that minor-group viruses are also more immunogenic in humans. A key finding is that rates of amino acid substitutions at exposed sites in the capsid proteins VP2, VP3, and VP1 tend to be elevated in minor-group relative to major-group viruses, while rates at buried sites show no consistent differences. A reanalysis of historical virus watch data also indicates a higher immunogenicity of minor-group viruses, consistent with our findings about evolutionary rates at amino acid positions most directly exposed to immune surveillance. The increased immunogenicity and speed of evolution in minor-group lineages may contribute to the very large numbers of rhinovirus serotypes that coexist while differing in virulence. IMPORTANCE Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses (RVs). Those caused by a subset known as the minor-group members of rhinovirus species A (RV-A) are correlated with the inception and aggravation of asthma in at-risk populations. Genetically, minor-group viruses are similar to major-group RV-A, from which they were derived, although they tend to elicit stronger immune responses. Differences in their rates and patterns of molecular evolution should be highly relevant to their epidemiology. All RV-A strains show high rates of amino acid substitutions in the capsid proteins at exposed sites not previously identified as being immunogenic, and this increase is significantly greater in minor-group viruses. These findings will inform future studies of the recently discovered RV-C, which also appears to exacerbate asthma in adults and children. In addition, these

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Glucose is an important source of energy for living organisms. In vertebrates it is ingested with the diet and transported into the cells by conserved mechanisms and molecules, such as the trans-membrane Glucose Transporters (GLUTs. Members of this family have tissue specific expression, biochemical properties and physiologic functions that together regulate glucose levels and distribution. GLUT4 -coded by SLC2A4 (17p13 is an insulin-sensitive transporter with a critical role in glucose homeostasis and diabetes pathogenesis, preferentially expressed in the adipose tissue, heart muscle and skeletal muscle. We tested the hypothesis that natural selection acted on SLC2A4. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We re-sequenced SLC2A4 and genotyped 104 SNPs along a approximately 1 Mb region flanking this gene in 102 ethnically diverse individuals. Across the studied populations (African, European, Asian and Latin-American, all the eight common SNPs are concentrated in the N-terminal region upstream of exon 7 ( approximately 3700 bp, while the C-terminal region downstream of intron 6 ( approximately 2600 bp harbors only 6 singletons, a pattern that is not compatible with neutrality for this part of the gene. Tests of neutrality based on comparative genomics suggest that: (1 episodes of natural selection (likely a selective sweep predating the coalescent of human lineages, within the last 25 million years, account for the observed reduced diversity downstream of intron 6 and, (2 the target of natural selection may not be in the SLC2A4 coding sequence. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that the contrast in the pattern of genetic variation between the N-terminal and C-terminal regions are signatures of the action of natural selection and thus follow-up studies should investigate the functional importance of different regions of the SLC2A4 gene.

Inspired by studies demonstrating mate-choice copying effects in non-human species, recent studies of attractiveness judgements suggest that social learning also influences human preferences. In the first part of our article, we review evidence for social learning effects on preferences in humans and other animals. In the second part, we present new empirical evidence that social learning not only influences the attractiveness of specific individuals, but can also generalize to judgements of previously unseen individuals possessing similar physical traits. The different conditions represent different populations and, once a preference arises in a population, social learning can lead to the spread of preferences within that population. In the final part of our article, we discuss the theoretical basis for, and possible impact of, biases in social learning whereby individuals may preferentially copy the choices of those with high status or better access to critical information about potential mates. Such biases could mean that the choices of a select few individuals carry the greatest weight, rapidly generating agreement in preferences within a population. Collectively, these issues suggest that social learning mechanisms encourage the spread of preferences for certain traits once they arise within a population and so may explain certain cross-cultural differences. PMID:21199841

Full Text Available Understanding the evolution of parasites is important to both basic and applied evolutionary biology. Knowledge of the genetic structure of parasite populations is critical for our ability to predict how an infection can spread through a host population and for the design of effective control methods. However, very little is known about the genetic structure of most human parasites, including the human louse (Pediculus humanus. This species is composed of two ecotypes: the head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis De Geer, and the clothing (body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus Linnaeus. Hundreds of millions of head louse infestations affect children every year, and this number is on the rise, in part because of increased resistance to insecticides. Clothing lice affect mostly homeless and refugee-camp populations and although they are less prevalent than head lice, the medical consequences are more severe because they vector deadly bacterial pathogens. In this study we present the first assessment of the genetic structure of human louse populations by analyzing the nuclear genetic variation at 15 newly developed microsatellite loci in 93 human lice from 11 sites in four world regions. Both ecotypes showed heterozygote deficits relative to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and high inbreeding values, an expected pattern given their parasitic life history. Bayesian clustering analyses assigned lice to four distinct genetic clusters that were geographically structured. The low levels of gene flow among louse populations suggested that the evolution of insecticide resistance in lice would most likely be affected by local selection pressures, underscoring the importance of tailoring control strategies to population-specific genetic makeup and evolutionary history. Our panel of microsatellite markers provides powerful data to investigate not only ecological and evolutionary processes in lice, but also those in their human hosts because of the long

Full Text Available Behaviorally modern human beings have lived in Amazonia for thousands of years. Significant dynamics in species turnovers due to human-mediated disturbance were associated with the ultimate emergence and expansion of agrarian technologies in prehistory. Such disturbances initiated primary and secondary landscape transformations in various locales of the Amazon region. Diversity in these locales can be understood by accepting the initial premise of contingency, expressed as unprecedented human agency and human history. These effects can be accessed through the archaeological record and in the study of living languages. In addition, landscape transformation can be demonstrated in the study of traditional knowledge (TK. One way of elucidating TK distinctions between anthropic and nonanthropic landscapes concerns elicitation of differential labeling of these landscapes and more significantly, elicitation of the specific contents, such as trees, occurring in these landscapes. Freelisting is a method which can be used to distinguish the differential species compositions of landscapes resulting from human-mediated disturbance vs. those which do not evince records of human agency and history. The TK of the Ka’apor Indians of Amazonian Brazil as revealed in freelisting exercises shows differentiation of anthropogenic from high forests as well as a recognition of diversity in the anthropogenic forests. This suggests that the agents of human-mediated disturbance and landscape transformation in traditional Amazonia encode diversity and contingency into their TK, which encoding reflects past cultural influence on landscape and society over time.

Full Text Available The protective immunity of natural killer (NK cells against malarial infections is thought to be due to early production of type II interferon (IFN and possibly direct NK cell cytotoxicity. To better understand this mechanism, a microarray analysis was conducted on NK cells from healthy donors PBMCs that were co-cultured with P. falciparum 3D7-infected erythrocytes. A very similar pattern of gene expression was observed among all donors for each treatment in three replicas. Parasites particularly modulated genes involved in IFN-α/β signaling as well as molecules involved in the activation of interferon regulatory factors, pathways known to play a role in the antimicrobial immune response. This pattern of transcription was entirely different from that shown by NK cells treated with IL-12 and IL-18, in which IFN-γ- and TREM-1-related genes were over-expressed. These results suggest that P. falciparum parasites and the cytokines IL-12 and IL-18 have diverse imprints on the transcriptome of human primary NK cells. IFN-α-related genes are the prominent molecules induced by parasites on NK cells and arise as candidate biomarkers that merit to be further investigated as potential new tools in malaria control.

Full Text Available Abstract Background As a model organism in biomedicine, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta is the most widely used nonhuman primate. Although a draft genome sequence was completed in 2007, there has been no systematic genome-wide comparison of genetic variation of this species to humans. Comparative analysis of functional and nonfunctional diversity in this highly abundant and adaptable non-human primate could inform its use as a model for human biology, and could reveal how variation in population history and size alters patterns and levels of sequence variation in primates. Results We sequenced the mRNA transcriptome and H3K4me3-marked DNA regions in hippocampus from 14 humans and 14 rhesus macaques. Using equivalent methodology and sampling spaces, we identified 462,802 macaque SNPs, most of which were novel and disproportionately located in the functionally important genomic regions we had targeted in the sequencing. At least one SNP was identified in each of 16,797 annotated macaque genes. Accuracy of macaque SNP identification was conservatively estimated to be >90%. Comparative analyses using SNPs equivalently identified in the two species revealed that rhesus macaque has approximately three times higher SNP density and average nucleotide diversity as compared to the human. Based on this level of diversity, the effective population size of the rhesus macaque is approximately 80,000 which contrasts with an effective population size of less than 10,000 for humans. Across five categories of genomic regions, intergenic regions had the highest SNP density and average nucleotide diversity and CDS (coding sequences the lowest, in both humans and macaques. Although there are more coding SNPs (cSNPs per individual in macaques than in humans, the ratio of dN/dS is significantly lower in the macaque. Furthermore, the number of damaging nonsynonymous cSNPs (have damaging effects on protein functions from PolyPhen-2 prediction in the macaque is more

Full Text Available We created a novel transgenic rat that expresses human antibodies comprising a diverse repertoire of heavy chains with a single common rearranged kappa light chain (IgKV3-15-JK1. This fixed light chain animal, called OmniFlic, presents a unique system for human therapeutic antibody discovery and a model to study heavy chain repertoire diversity in the context of a constant light chain. The purpose of this study was to analyze heavy chain variable gene usage, clonotype diversity, and to describe the sequence characteristics of antigen-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs isolated from immunized OmniFlic animals. Using next-generation sequencing antibody repertoire analysis, we measured heavy chain variable gene usage and the diversity of clonotypes present in the lymph node germinal centers of 75 OmniFlic rats immunized with 9 different protein antigens. Furthermore, we expressed 2,560 unique heavy chain sequences sampled from a diverse set of clonotypes as fixed light chain antibody proteins and measured their binding to antigen by ELISA. Finally, we measured patterns and overall levels of somatic hypermutation in the full B-cell repertoire and in the 2,560 mAbs tested for binding. The results demonstrate that OmniFlic animals produce an abundance of antigen-specific antibodies with heavy chain clonotype diversity that is similar to what has been described with unrestricted light chain use in mammals. In addition, we show that sequence-based discovery is a highly effective and efficient way to identify a large number of diverse monoclonal antibodies to a protein target of interest.

Full Text Available Both local- and landscape-scale processes drive succession of secondary forests in human-modified tropical landscapes. Nonetheless, until recently successional changes in composition and diversity have been predominantly studied at the patch level. Here, we used a unique dataset with 45 randomly selected sites across a mixed-use tropical landscape in central Panama to study forest succession simultaneously on local and landscape scales and across both life stages (seedling, sapling, juvenile and adult trees and life forms (shrubs, trees, lianas, and palms. To understand the potential of these secondary forests to conserve tree species diversity, we also evaluated the diversity of species that can persist as viable metapopulations in a dynamic patchwork of short-lived successional forests, using different assumptions about the average relative size at reproductive maturity. We found a deterministic shift in the diversity and composition of the local plant communities as well as the metacommunity, driven by variation in the rate at which species recruited into and disappeared from the secondary forests across the landscape. Our results indicate that dispersal limitation and the successional niche operate simultaneously and shape successional dynamics of the metacommunity of these early secondary forests. A high diversity of plant species across the metacommunity of early secondary forests shows a potential for restoration of diverse forests through natural succession, when trees and fragments of older forests are maintained in the agricultural matrix and land is abandoned or set aside for a long period of time. On the other hand, during the first 32 years the number of species with mature-sized individuals was a relatively small and strongly biased sub-sample of the total species pool. This implies that ephemeral secondary forests have a limited role in the long-term conservation of tree species diversity in human-modified tropical landscapes.

Full Text Available Complex biological systems usually pose a trade-off between robustness and fragility where a small number of perturbations can substantially disrupt the system. Although biological systems are robust against changes in many external and internal conditions, even a single mutation can perturb the system substantially, giving rise to a pathophenotype. Recent advances in identifying and analyzing the sequential variations beneath human disorders help to comprehend a systemic view of the mechanisms underlying various disease phenotypes. Network-based disease-gene prioritization methods rank the relevance of genes in a disease under the hypothesis that genes whose proteins interact with each other tend to exhibit similar phenotypes. In this study, we have tested the robustness of several network-based disease-gene prioritization methods with respect to the perturbations of the system using various disease phenotypes from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database. These perturbations have been introduced either in the protein-protein interaction network or in the set of known disease-gene associations. As the network-based disease-gene prioritization methods are based on the connectivity between known disease-gene associations, we have further used these methods to categorize the pathophenotypes with respect to the recoverability of hidden disease-genes. Our results have suggested that, in general, disease-genes are connected through multiple paths in the human interactome. Moreover, even when these paths are disturbed, network-based prioritization can reveal hidden disease-gene associations in some pathophenotypes such as breast cancer, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, leukemia, parkinson disease and obesity to a greater extend compared to the rest of the pathophenotypes tested in this study. Gene Ontology (GO analysis highlighted the role of functional diversity for such diseases.

SummaryThe Patía River, the number one in terms of sediment yield ˜1500 t km-2 yr-1 draining the western South America, has the most extensive and well developed delta on the Pacific coast, measuring 1700 km2. During the Holocene, nature forced the Patía delta to the south; however, a major water diversion, starting in 1972, diverted the Patía flow to the Sanguianga River, the latter, a small stream draining internal lakes from the Pacific lowlands. This human induced discharge diversion shifted the active delta plain back to the north and changed the northern estuarine system into an active delta plain. Overall, major environmental consequences of this discharge diversion in terms of morphological changes along the delta coast and distributary channels, are evidenced by: (1) coastal retreat along the abandoned delta lobe; 63% of the southern shoreline is retreating at maximum rates of 7 m yr-1, with a corresponding coastal land loss of 106 m yr-1; (2) transgressive barrier islands with exposed peat soils in the surf zone; (3) abandonment of former active distributaries in the southern delta plain with associated closing of inlets and formation of ebb tidal deltas; (4) breaching events on barrier islands; and (5) distributary channel accretion in the northern delta plain by morphological processes such as sedimentation (also in crevasses), overbank flow, increasing width of levees, interdistributary channel fill, and colonization of pioneer mangrove. The Sanguianga Mangrove National Park (SMNP), the largest mangrove reserve in Colombia, measuring 800 km2, lies in this former estuary, where major hydrologic and sedimentation changes are occurring. Observed environmental changes in the SMNP, include (1) seaward advance of the sub-aqueous delta front at the Sanquianga inlet evidenced by an increase in tidal flat area from 5.4 Mm2 in 1986 to 14 Mm2 in 2001; (2) freshening conditions in the Sanguianga distributary channel, a hydrologic change that has shifted the

-keeping functions. Alignment of protein sequences representing PiT family members from all kingdoms reveals the presence of conserved amino acids and that bacterial phosphate permeases and putative phosphate permeases from archaea lack substantial parts of the protein sequence when compared to the mammalian Pi...... PiT2 histidine, H502, and the human PiT1 glutamate, E70, - both conserved in eukaryotic PiT family members - are critical for Pi transport function. Noticeably, human PiT2 H502 is located in the C-terminal PiT family signature sequence, and human PiT1 E70 is located in ProDom domains characteristic....... Conclusions The results suggest that the overall structure of the Pi-transporting unit of the PiT family proteins has remained unchanged during evolution. Moreover, in combination, our studies of the gene structure of the human PiT1 and PiT2 genes (SLC20A1 and SLC20A2, respectively) and alignment of protein...

Full Text Available Human-associated archaea remain understudied in the field of microbiome research, although in particular methanogenic archaea were found to be regular commensals of the human gut, where they represent keystone species in metabolic processes. Knowledge on the abundance and diversity of human-associated archaea is extremely limited, and little is known about their function(s, their overall role in human health, or their association with parts of the human body other than the gastrointestinal tract and oral cavity. Currently, methodological issues impede the full assessment of the human archaeome, as bacteria-targeting protocols are unsuitable for characterization of the full spectrum of Archaea. The goal of this study was to establish conservative protocols based on specifically archaea-targeting, PCR-based methods to retrieve first insights into the archaeomes of the human gastrointestinal tract, lung, nose, and skin. Detection of Archaea was highly dependent on primer selection and the sequence processing pipeline used. Our results enabled us to retrieve a novel picture of the human archaeome, as we found for the first time Methanobacterium and Woesearchaeota (DPANN superphylum to be associated with the human gastrointestinal tract and the human lung, respectively. Similar to bacteria, human-associated archaeal communities were found to group biogeographically, forming (i the thaumarchaeal skin landscape, (ii the (methanoeuryarchaeal gastrointestinal tract, (iii a mixed skin-gastrointestinal tract landscape for the nose, and (iv a woesearchaeal lung landscape. On the basis of the protocols we used, we were able to detect unexpectedly high diversity of archaea associated with different body parts.

Diversity has been an important topic of research for some time in higher education, though the purposes underlying this attention have varied across national and regional contexts. In many parts of the world, the term "diversity" has been emphasized with regard to variety among the programs or services provided by academic institutions,…

Influenza A virus (IAV) causes an acute infection in humans that is normally eliminated by CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Individuals expressing the MHC class I molecule HLA-A2 produce cytotoxic T lymphocytes bearing T-cell receptors (TCRs) that recognize the immunodominant IAV epitope GILGFVFTL (GIL). Most GIL-specific TCRs utilize α/β chain pairs encoded by the TRAV27/TRBV19 gene combination to recognize this relatively featureless peptide epitope (canonical TCRs). However, ~40% of GIL-specific TCRs express a wide variety of other TRAV/TRBV combinations (non-canonical TCRs). To investigate the structural underpinnings of this remarkable diversity, we determined the crystal structure of a non-canonical GIL-specific TCR (F50) expressing the TRAV13-1/TRBV27 gene combination bound to GIL–HLA-A2 to 1.7 Å resolution. Comparison of the F50–GIL–HLA-A2 complex with the previously published complex formed by a canonical TCR (JM22) revealed that F50 and JM22 engage GIL–HLA-A2 in markedly different orientations. These orientations are distinguished by crossing angles of TCR to peptide–MHC of 29° for F50 versus 69° for JM22 and by a focus by F50 on the C terminus rather than the center of the MHC α1 helix for JM22. In addition, F50, unlike JM22, uses a tryptophan instead of an arginine to fill a critical notch between GIL and the HLA-A2 α2 helix. The F50–GIL–HLA-A2 complex shows that there are multiple structurally distinct solutions to recognizing an identical peptide–MHC ligand with sufficient affinity to elicit a broad anti-IAV response that protects against viral escape and T-cell clonal loss.

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Since 1997, several countries within the Asian Pacific region have been affected by one or more massive outbreaks of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD. Virus typing experiments revealed that these outbreaks were caused by strains of human enterovirus 71 (EV71 belonging to several different, recently emerged subgenogroups. In mainland China, a different situation was observed. The first outbreak, localized in Shangdong Province, was reported in 2007, and was followed by a wide-spread outbreak in mainland China in 2008. Since then, numbers of reported HFMD cases have been persistently high. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To gain insight in the epidemiological behavior of EV71 in China, we studied genetic diversity and EV71 population dynamics to address whether the increase in number of reported EV71 infections reflects a real increase in viral spread or is just the result of increased awareness and surveillance. We used systematically collected VP1 gene sequences of 257 EV71 strains collected in Guangdong province from 2008 to 2010 as part of HFMD surveillance activities, and supplemented them with 305 GenBank EV71 reference stains collected in China from 1998 to 2010. All isolates from Guangdong Province belonged to subgenogroup C4. Viral population dynamics indicated that the increased reporting of HFMD in China since 2007 reflects a real increase in viral spread and continued replacement of viral lineages through time. Amino acid sequence comparisons revealed substitution of amino acid in residues 22, 145 and 289 through time regularly with the VP1 gene of EV71 strains isolated in mainland China from 1998 to 2010. CONCLUSIONS: EV71 strains isolated in mainland China mainly belonged to subgenogroup C4. There was exponential growth of the EV71 virus population in 2007 and 2008. There was amino acid substitution through time regularly with the VP1 gene which possibly increased viral spread and/or ability of the virus to circulate

Achieving the universal energy access Sustainable Development Goal will require great investment in renewable energy infrastructure in the developing world. Much growth in the renewable sector will come from new hydropower projects, including small and diversion hydropower in remote and mountainous regions. Yet, human impacts to hydrological systems from diversion hydropower are poorly described. Diversion hydropower is often implemented in ungauged rivers, thus detection of impact requires flow analysis tools suited to prediction in poorly-gauged and human-altered catchments. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of hydrologic alteration in 32 rivers developed with diversion hydropower in southwestern China. As flow data are sparse, we devise an approach for estimating streamflow during pre- and post-development periods, drawing upon a decade of research into prediction in ungauged basins. We apply a rainfall-runoff model, parameterized and forced exclusively with global-scale data, in hydrologically-similar gauged and ungauged catchments. Uncertain "soft" data are incorporated through fuzzy numbers and confidence-based weighting, and a multi-criteria objective function is applied to evaluate model performance. Testing indicates that the proposed framework returns superior performance (NSE = 0.77) as compared to models parameterized by rote calibration (NSE = 0.62). Confident that the models are providing `the right answer for the right reasons', our analysis of hydrologic alteration based on simulated flows indicates statistically significant hydrologic effects of diversion hydropower across many rivers. Mean annual flows, 7-day minimum and 7-day maximum flows decreased. Frequency and duration of flow exceeding Q25 decreased while duration of flows sustained below the Q75 increased substantially. Hydrograph rise and fall rates and flow constancy increased. The proposed methodology may be applied to improve diversion hydropower design in data-limited regions.

Full Text Available The diversity of virus-specific antibodies and of B cells among different individuals is unknown. Using single-cell cloning of antibody genes, we generated recombinant human monoclonal antibodies from influenza nucleoprotein-specific memory B cells in four adult humans with and without preceding influenza vaccination. We examined the diversity of the antibody repertoires and found that NP-specific B cells used numerous immunoglobulin genes. The heavy chains (HCs originated from 26 and the kappa light chains (LCs from 19 different germ line genes. Matching HC and LC chains gave rise to 43 genetically distinct antibodies that bound influenza NP. The median lengths of the CDR3 of the HC, kappa and lambda LC were 14, 9 and 11 amino acids, respectively. We identified changes at 13.6% of the amino acid positions in the V gene of the antibody heavy chain, at 8.4% in the kappa and at 10.6 % in the lambda V gene. We identified somatic insertions or deletions in 8.1% of the variable genes. We also found several small groups of clonal relatives that were highly diversified. Our findings demonstrate broadly diverse memory B cell repertoires for the influenza nucleoprotein. We found extensive variation within individuals with a high number of point mutations, insertions, and deletions, and extensive clonal diversification. Thus, structurally conserved proteins can elicit broadly diverse and highly mutated B-cell responses.

This paper discusses the definitions and content of eight performance shaping factors (PSFs) used in Standardized Plant Analysis of Risk-Human Reliability Analysis (SPAR-H) and their levels and multipliers. Definitions of nominal tasks are also discussed. The discussion is based on a review of literature on PSFs, interviews with consultants who have carried out SPAR-H analysis in the petroleum industry and an evaluation of human reliability analysis reports based on SPAR-H analysis. We concluded that SPAR-H definitions and descriptions of the PSFs are unclear and overlap too much, making it difficult for the analyst to choose between them and select the appropriate level. This reduces inter-rater reliability and thus the consistency of SPAR-H analyses. New definitions of the PSFs, levels and multipliers are suggested with the aim to develop more specific definitions of the PSFs in order to increase the inter-rater reliability of SPAR-H. Another aim was to construct more varied and more nuanced levels and multipliers to improve the capacity of SPAR-H analysis to capture the degree of difficulty faced by operators in different scenarios. We also suggest that only one of two nominal SPAR-H tasks should be retained owing to the difficulty in distinguishing between them. - Highlights: • The SPAR-H guidelines should be revised. • Descriptions of the PSFs should be improved. • New definitions should reduce overlap between the PSFs. • The multipliers are based on an “old” method and should be revised. • Some PSF levels and multipliers in SPAR-H are not logical.

Full Text Available Introduction: Infectious diarrhoea particularly due to pathogenic bacteria is a major health problem in developing countries, including India. Despite significant reports of diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (DEC pathotypes around the globe, studies which address genetic relatedness, antibiogram profile and their correlation with respect to their isolation from different sources are sparse. The present study determines isolation and identification of DEC pathotypes from different sources, their genetic characterisation, antibiogram profile and their correlation if any. Materials and methods: A total of 336 samples comprising diarrhoeic stool samples from infants (n=103, young animal (n=106, foods (n=68 and associated environmental sources (n=59 were collected from Bareilly region of India. All the samples were screened by using standard microbiological methods for the detection of E. coli. The identified E. coli were then confirmed as DEC pathotypes using polymerase chain reaction–based assays. Those DEC pathotypes identified as Enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC were further confirmed using HEp-2 adherence assay. All the isolated DEC pathotypes were studied for their genetic diversity using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by using disc diffusion method as per Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Results and discussion: Of the four DEC pathotypes investigated, EAEC was found to be the predominant pathogen with an isolation rate of 16.5% from infants, 17.9% from young animals, 16.2% from foods and 3.4% from the associated environmental sources. These EAEC isolates, on further characterisation, revealed predominance of ‘atypical’ EAEC, with an isolation rate of 10.7% from infants, 15.1% from young animals, 16.2% from foods, and 3.4% from the associated environmental sources. On PFGE analysis, discrimination was evident within DEC pathotypes as 52 unique pulsotypes were

Questions of agency in text–audience relations are less studied than other aspects of rhetorical agency. We suggest conceptualizing and analyzing the relationship between texts and audiences from the perspective of performativity, as it has been developed by Judith Butler. Thus, we argue that texts...... invite audiences to take up subject positions, understood as combinations of identity and agency. Danish diversity management rhetoric functions as an illustrative example; in analyzing this type of rhetoric we show how subjects are called into restrained positions of similarity/difference and thereby...

It is commonly believed that direct suggestibility, referring to overt influence, and indirect suggestibility, in which the intention to influence is hidden, correlate poorly. This study demonstrates that they are substantially related, provided that they tap similar areas of influence. Test results from 103 students, 55 women and 48 men, were entered into regression analyses. Indirect suggestibility, as measured by the Sensory Suggestibility Scale for Groups, and compliance, measured by the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale, were predictors of direct suggestibility, assessed with the Barber Suggestibility Scale. Spectral analyses showed that indirect suggestibility is more related to difficult tasks on the BSS, but compliance is more related to easy tasks on this scale.

Bifidobacterium longum is a common member of the human gut microbiota and is frequently present at high numbers in the gut microbiota of humans throughout life, thus indicative of a close symbiotic host-microbe relationship. Different mechanisms may be responsible for the high competitiveness of this taxon in its human host to allow stable establishment in the complex and dynamic intestinal microbiota environment. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic and metabolic diversity in a set of 20 B. longum strains, most of which had previously been isolated from infants, by performing whole genome sequencing and comparative analysis, and to analyse their carbohydrate utilization abilities using a gene-trait matching approach.

This document contains three papers presented at a symposium on diversity in the workplace moderated by Sandra Johnson at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). "Diversity and Development: An Assessment of Equal Opportunities and the Role of HRD in the Police Service" (Rashmi Biswas, Penny Dick) examines…

Anthropologists, biologists and linguists have all noted an apparent coincidence in species diversity and human cultural or linguistic diversity. We present, to our knowledge, one of the first quantitative descriptions of this coincidence and show that, for 2 degrees x 2 degrees grid cells across...... sub-Saharan Africa, cultural diversity and vertebrate species diversity exhibit marked similarities in their overall distribution. In addition, we show that 71% of the observed variation in species richness and 36% in language richness can be explained on the basis of environmental factors, suggesting...

The study compared levels of awareness of human papilloma virus (HPV) as a sexually transmissible infection (STI) between women of different sexual orientations. It also examined self-reported risk factors for HPV infection, perceived level of personal risk, and willingness to have the HPV vaccine. Recruitment occurred through community sampling and data was collected using a self-completion questionnaire. A convenience sample of 349 women completed the questionnaire in early 2007, 309 were sexually active; 47.6% had lifetime sexual partners of both genders, 26.9% had only male partners, and 25.5% had only female partners. Women with partners of both genders were more likely to have ever had a pap test but were also more likely to report an abnormal result (OR 3.19) than women with only male partners. Only 68% of the sample had heard of HPV and women with partners of both genders were significantly more likely to be aware than women with only male partners (OR 2.56). Forty-four per cent did not know how HPV was transmitted and less than half correctly identified HPV-associated clinical problems, with no differences according to gender of partners. The majority of women had risk factors for HPV, however, few felt personally at risk. The very low personal risk perception for HPV, particularly among women who have female and male sexual partners, suggests the need for targeted education for this group regarding HPV transmission and prevention. Health promotion regarding HPV should be broadened to specifically include information about HPV as an STI between women.

The oral cavity environment may be colonized by polymicrobial communities with complex, poorly known interrelations. The aim of this study was to determine oral microbiota diversity in order to prevent the spread of infectious microorganisms that are risk factors for human health complications in patients requiring treatment due to various disabilities. The study examined Polish adults aged between 40 and 70 years; parasitological, microbiological, and mycological data collected before treatment were analyzed. The diversity of oral microbiota, including relatively high prevalences of some opportunistic, potentially pathogenic strains of bacteria, protozoans, and fungi detected in the patients analyzed, may result in increasing risk of disseminated infections from the oral cavity to neighboring structures and other organs. Increasing ageing of human populations is noted in recent decades in many countries, including Poland. The growing number of older adults with different oral health disabilities, who are more prone to development of oral and systemic pathology, is an increasing medical problem. Results of this retrospective study showed the urgent need to pay more attention to the pretreatment examination of components of the oral microbiome, especially to the strains, which are etiological agents of human opportunistic infections and are particularly dangerous for older adults.

Full Text Available The oral cavity environment may be colonized by polymicrobial communities with complex, poorly known interrelations. The aim of this study was to determine oral microbiota diversity in order to prevent the spread of infectious microorganisms that are risk factors for human health complications in patients requiring treatment due to various disabilities. The study examined Polish adults aged between 40 and 70 years; parasitological, microbiological, and mycological data collected before treatment were analyzed. The diversity of oral microbiota, including relatively high prevalences of some opportunistic, potentially pathogenic strains of bacteria, protozoans, and fungi detected in the patients analyzed, may result in increasing risk of disseminated infections from the oral cavity to neighboring structures and other organs. Increasing ageing of human populations is noted in recent decades in many countries, including Poland. The growing number of older adults with different oral health disabilities, who are more prone to development of oral and systemic pathology, is an increasing medical problem. Results of this retrospective study showed the urgent need to pay more attention to the pretreatment examination of components of the oral microbiome, especially to the strains, which are etiological agents of human opportunistic infections and are particularly dangerous for older adults.

Common features between the domains of behavioural decision making and suggestional processes are discussed. These features are allocated in two aspects. First, behavioural decision making and suggestional processes are traditionally considered to provoke inadequate human behaviour. In this article arguments are put forward against this interpretation: Actions induced by non-rational decisions and / or by suggestional processes often have adaptive functions. Second, two common themat...

Full Text Available This article is targeted to faculty teaching race and ethnicity, racism, diversity, and multicultural courses. Many students equate race with skin color. The premise of this article is that to teach students about the social construction of race, teachers must first know enough science to teach students that race is not biological. This article examines the biology of race by showing how advances in DNA sequencing led to genetics research that supports arguments that race is not biological. DNA comparisons show that all human populations living today are one species that came from Africa. The article explains the migration of humans out of Africa about 60,000 years ago and how they populated Australia, then Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The article shows how recent research maps the timing of the migration and admixture of specific population groups into Europe and India. The article shows how a mutation in one nucleotide can result in a trait like blue eyes, or Hemoglobin S (which confers resistance to malaria, which can be subject to evolution through natural selection. DNA comparisons show how natural selection shaped the genetics of human skin color to adapt to less UV light in the northern latitudes of Europe and Asia. The article shows that there is no relation between skin color or other “racial” characteristics and complex traits like intelligence. The science in this article will help teachers explain that as race is not biological, race is socially constructed and culturally enacted.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) founded the Diversity Subcommittee in 2000 to address what the AGU felt were important issues for the future of the geoscience community. A recent AGU statement of commitment and concern about issues of diversity reads, in part: It is essential that new strategies for educating, recruiting, and retaining geoscientists from currently under-represented populations be developed (a) for individual investigators seeking students to fill classes or work in their research programs; (b) for institutions looking to replace faculty and researchers; (c) for the larger community looking to the public for continued research funding, and (d) for the future US membership of AGU. In an effort to fulfill its charge, the majority of the 2004-2006 sub-committee's activities will be directed towards: (1) Education of the AGU Membership, including the sub-committee itself, on the salient issues of Diversity; (2) Mentoring and supporting minority students in the pipeline of Earth and Space Science education as well as minority faculty seeking to establish successful collaborations; (3) Establishing a mechanism for quantitative assessment of (a) the AGU demographics, (b) member knowledge, and (c) success of programs in the area of Diversity; (4) Conducting the first ever Chapman Conference on the needs of investigators with disabilities (July, 2005); (5) Partnering with other agencies and societies to build bridges; (6) Creating mechanisms for marketing the Earth and Space sciences to minority audiences; (7) Nurturing of minority members already in the AGU; promoting these members for honors and awards within AGU. Details, goals, and milestones of this program will be presented.

The Bolmon lagoon (south-eastern France) is located in the coastal hinterland of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the salty Berre pond and in the other hand receives fresh waters from the La Cadiere River. This hyper-shallow lagoon has been classified in the early 70's as β mixo-mesohaline. Bolmon lagoon is important for human activities (tourism, fishing) and for the preservation of the diversity of marine and birds species. In the last decades, the intensive urbanisation of its drainage basin induced a high eutrophication of its waters and, as a consequence, drastic modifications in the biodiversity and in the functioning os this ecosystem. (Author)

Phylogenetic analysis was used to compare 16S rRNA sequences from 19 cultured human gut strains of Roseburia and Eubacterium rectale with 356 related sequences derived from clone libraries. The cultured strains were found to represent five of the six phylotypes identified. A new oligonucleotide probe, Rrec584, and the previous group probe Rint623, when used in conjunction with a new helper oligonucleotide, each recognized an average of 7% of bacteria detected by the eubacterial probe Eub338 in feces from 10 healthy volunteers. Most of the diversity within this important group of butyrate-producing gut bacteria can apparently be retrieved through cultivation.

The transmission routes for human parvovirus 4 (PARV4) infections in areas with high seroprevalence are not known. In the work described here, persistent PARV4 viral replication was investigated by conducting a longitudinal study. Ten healthcare workers each provided a blood sample at the beginning of the study (first sample) and 12 months later (second sample). The paired samples were tested for PARV4-positivity by immunoblotting analysis and nested polymerase chain reactions. IgG antibodies against PARV4 were detected in six participants, three of whom also had IgM antibodies against PARV4. The immunoblotting results did not vary over time. PARV4 DNA was detected in the first blood sample from one participant who had IgG antibodies against PARV4 and in the second blood samples from 2 participants who had IgG and IgM antibodies against PARV4. Detection of PARV4 DNA in the second blood samples from two seropositive participants suggests the existence of persistent PARV4 replication or reactivation of inactive virus in the tissues. The finding of persistent or intermittent PARV4 replication in individuals with past infections provides an important clue toward unraveling the non-parenteral transmission routes of PARV4 infection in areas where the virus is endemic.

Susceptibility and declined resistance to human pathogens like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) at old age is well represented in the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus). Despite providing a preferred model of human infectious diseases, little is known about aging of its adaptive immune system. We aimed

In Cambodia, intestinal parasitic infections are prevalent in humans and particularly in children. Yet, information on potentially zoonotic parasites in animal reservoir hosts is lacking. In May 2012, faecal samples from 218 humans, 94 dogs and 76 pigs were collected from 67 households in Dong vi...

A high-density phylogenetic microarray targeting small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) sequences of over 1000 microbial phylotypes of the human gastrointestinal tract, the HITChip, was used to assess the impact of faecal inoculum preparation and operation conditions on an in vitro model of the human large

Aim Today’s genetic population structure and diversity of species can be understood as the result of range expansion from the area of origin, past climatic oscillations and contemporary processes. We examined the relative importance of these factors in Veratrum album L., a toxic weed of mountain...... grasslands. Location Continental Europe. Methods Forty populations from the Asian border (Urals and Caucasus) to Portugal were studied using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) combined with selected plant and population measures. The data were analysed with phylogenetic, population genetic...... and regression methods inferring both genetic structure and diversity from geographic and ecological factors. Results Fragment frequency clines together with genetic distance clustering and principal coordinates analysis indicated an east–west direction in the genetic structure of V. album, suggesting ancient...

The key topic of the work is diversity management, i.e. management of em-ployees" diversity within organization. Opening part of the work identifies the position of diversity within society and related phenomena such as stereotypes, biases and various forms of discrimination. Then the work discusses the role of diversity management in organizations, its principles and basic areas of focus. Attention is paid to certain social groups that the diversity management concept should especially deal ...

Indians was not identifiable. Our research suggests type specific patterns of evolution and spread of HPV-16, 18, 31, and 35 both before and after the worldwide migrations of the last four centuries. The high prevalence of highly carcinogenic HPV-16 AA variants, and the extensive diversity of HPV-18, 31, and 35 variants with unknown pathogenic properties raise the possibility that HPV intra-type variation contributes to the high cervical cancer burden in Mexico

Presently, the understanding of bacterial enteric diseases in the community and their virulence factors relies almost exclusively on clinical disease reporting and examination of clinical pathogen isolates. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of an alternative approach that monitors potential enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) prevalence and intimin gene (eae) diversity in a community by directly quantifying and characterizing target virulence genes in the sanitary sewage. The quantitative PCR (qPCR) quantification of the eae, stx1, and stx2 genes in sanitary sewage samples collected over a 13-month period detected eae in all 13 monthly sewage samples at significantly higher abundance (93 to 7,240 calibrator cell equivalents [CCE]/100 ml) than stx1 and stx2, which were detected sporadically. The prevalence level of potential EPEC in the sanitary sewage was estimated by calculating the ratio of eae to uidA, which averaged 1.0% (σ = 0.4%) over the 13-month period. Cloning and sequencing of the eae gene directly from the sewage samples covered the majority of the eae diversity in the sewage and detected 17 unique eae alleles belonging to 14 subtypes. Among them, eae-β2 was identified to be the most prevalent subtype in the sewage, with the highest detection frequency in the clone libraries (41.2%) and within the different sampling months (85.7%). Additionally, sewage and environmental E. coli isolates were also obtained and used to determine the detection frequencies of the virulence genes as well as eae genetic diversity for comparison. PMID:24141131

BACKGROUND: Large scale transcript analysis of human glomerular microvascular endothelial cells (HGMEC) has never been accomplished. We designed this study to define the transcriptome of HGMEC and facilitate a better characterization of these endothelial cells with unique features. Serial analysis

Diversity is increasingly important in the radiologic technology workplace. For significant changes to occur in work force diversity, educators must first recruit and retain students from a wide variety of backgrounds. This article examines personality, race and gender as factors affecting career choice and how educators can use these factors to increase diversity in their programs. An overview of the ASRT's efforts to improve diversity within the profession is presented, along with suggestions for developing effective recruitment and retention plans to increase diversity.

Campylobacter jejuni is a zoonotic pathogen commonly associated with human gastroenteritis. Retail poultry meat is a major food-related transmission source of C. jejuni to humans. The present study investigated the genetic diversity, clonal relationship, and strain risk-analysis of 403 representative C. jejuni isolates from chicken broilers (n = 204) and sporadic cases of human diarrhea (n = 199) over a decade (2006-2015) in Belgium, using multilocus sequence typing (MLST), PCR binary typing (P-BIT), and identification of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) biosynthesis locus classes. A total of 123 distinct sequence types (STs), clustered in 28 clonal complexes (CCs) were assigned, including ten novel sequence types that were not previously documented in the international database. Sequence types ST-48, ST-21, ST-50, ST-45, ST-464, ST-2274, ST-572, ST-19, ST-257 and ST-42 were the most prevalent. Clonal complex 21 was the main clonal complex in isolates from humans and chickens. Among observed STs, a total of 35 STs that represent 72.2% (291/403) of the isolates were identified in both chicken and human isolates confirming considerable epidemiological relatedness; these 35 STs also clustered together in the most prevalent CCs. A majority of the isolates harbored sialylated LOS loci associated with potential neuropathic outcomes in humans. Although the concordance between MLST and P-BIT, determined by the adjusted Rand and Wallace coefficients, showed low congruence between both typing methods. The discriminatory power of P-BIT and MLST was similar, with Simpson's diversity indexes of 0.978 and 0.975, respectively. Furthermore, P-BIT could provide additional epidemiological information that would provide further insights regarding the potential association to human health from each strain. In addition, certain clones could be linked to specific clinical symptoms. Indeed, LOS class E was associated with less severe infections. Moreover, ST-572 was significantly

Argues that global diversity has become a business imperative in today's business climate. Global diversity is of core importance even for companies that are considered domestic. Suggests community colleges need help in understanding their customer base and their shifting values in order to meet their needs and win customer loyalty. (NB)

Study Objectives: Slow wave sleep (SWS) plays a critical role in body restoration and promotes brain plasticity; however, it markedly declines across the lifespan. Despite its importance, effective tools to increase SWS are rare. Here we tested whether a hypnotic suggestion to “sleep deeper” extends the amount of SWS. Design: Within-subject, placebo-controlled crossover design. Setting: Sleep laboratory at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Participants: Seventy healthy females 23.27 ± 3.17 y. Intervention: Participants listened to an auditory text with hypnotic suggestions or a control tape before napping for 90 min while high-density electroencephalography was recorded. Measurements and Results: After participants listened to the hypnotic suggestion to “sleep deeper” subsequent SWS was increased by 81% and time spent awake was reduced by 67% (with the amount of SWS or wake in the control condition set to 100%). Other sleep stages remained unaffected. Additionally, slow wave activity was significantly enhanced after hypnotic suggestions. During the hypnotic tape, parietal theta power increases predicted the hypnosis-induced extension of SWS. Additional experiments confirmed that the beneficial effect of hypnotic suggestions on SWS was specific to the hypnotic suggestion and did not occur in low suggestible participants. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of hypnotic suggestions to specifically increase the amount and duration of slow wave sleep (SWS) in a midday nap using objective measures of sleep in young, healthy, suggestible females. Hypnotic suggestions might be a successful tool with a lower risk of adverse side effects than pharmacological treatments to extend SWS also in clinical and elderly populations. Citation: Cordi MJ, Schlarb AA, Rasch B. Deepening sleep by hypnotic suggestion. SLEEP 2014;37(6):1143-1152. PMID:24882909

Full Text Available Pathogenicity of many microbes relies on their capacity to resist innate immunity, and to survive and persist in an immunocompetent human host microbes have developed highly efficient and sophisticated complement evasion strategies. Here we show that different human pathogens including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as the fungal pathogen Candida albicans, acquire the human terminal complement regulator vitronectin to their surface. By using truncated vitronectin fragments we found that all analyzed microbial pathogens (n = 13 bound human vitronectin via the same C-terminal heparin-binding domain (amino acids 352-374. This specific interaction leaves the terminal complement complex (TCC regulatory region of vitronectin accessible, allowing inhibition of C5b-7 membrane insertion and C9 polymerization. Vitronectin complexed with the various microbes and corresponding proteins was thus functionally active and inhibited complement-mediated C5b-9 deposition. Taken together, diverse microbial pathogens expressing different structurally unrelated vitronectin-binding molecules interact with host vitronectin via the same conserved region to allow versatile control of the host innate immune response.

To analyse the sequence diversity of the tetracycline resistance gene tet(M) in Staphylococcus aureus from humans and animals and to determine mobile elements associated with tet(M) in S. aureus. In total, 205 tetracycline-resistant isolates were screened for tet(M) by PCR. tet(M) genes were...... sequenced and compared with tet(M) deposited in GenBank. Based on phylogenetic analysis isolates were screened for Tn916- and Tn5801-like xis/int genes, and transposons were confirmed by linking PCR. spa typing was performed and selected isolates were used as donors in a filter mating experiment. Forty......-one isolates (21.3%, 60.7%, 2.6% and 4.4% of the human, pig, poultry and cattle isolates, respectively) were tet(M) positive. tet(M) was located on Tn5801-like and Tn916-like transposons in humans and on a specific Tn916-like element in animals. Human isolates were of different spa types (t034, t008, t037, t...

This study provides first insights into the involvement of hNOT/ALG3, the human counterpart of the Drosophila Neighbour of TID and yeast ALG3 gene, in various putative molecular networks. HNOT/ALG3 encodes two translated transcripts encoding precursor proteins differing in their N-terminus and showing 33% identity with the yeast asparagine-linked glycosylation 3 (ALG3) protein. Experimental evidence for the functional homology of the proteins of fly and man in the N-glycosylation has still to be provided. In this study, using the yeast two-hybrid technique we identify 17 molecular partners of hNOT-1/ALG3-1. We disclose the building of hNOT/ALG3 homodimers and provide experimental evidence for its in vivo interaction with the functionally linked proteins OSBP, OSBPL9 and LRP1, the SYPL1 protein and the transcription factor CREB3. Regarding the latter, we show that the 55 kDa N-glycosylated hNOT-1/ALG3-1 molecule binds the N-glycosylated CREB3 precursor but does not interact with CREB3's proteolytic products specific to the endoplasmic reticulum and to the nucleus. The interaction between the two partners is a prerequisite for the proteolytic activation of CREB3. In case of the further binding partners, our data suggest that hNOT-1/ALG3-1 interacts with both OSBPs and with their direct targets LRP1 and VAMP/VAP-A. Moreover, our results show that various partners of hNOT-1/ALG3-1 interact with its diverse post translationally processed products destined to distinct cellular compartments. Generally, our data suggest the involvement of hNOT-1/ALG3-1 in various molecular contexts determining essential processes associated with distinct cellular machineries and related to various pathologies, such as cancer, viral infections, neuronal and immunological disorders and CDG.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression - the right to communication. Communication is at the core of the speech-language pathology (SLP) profession. Yet, while we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights some of our most vulnerable youth are being placed in special education at disproportional rates. School-based SLPs in the United States may be unwittingly contributing to this phenomenon, obstructing the human right to communication because of biased assessment procedures. However, increasing cultural competence, diversifying the profession, and utilising additional assessment measures are actions that can be taken to promote equity in assessment for all children.

Three papers comprise this symposium on diversity in the workplace. "Factors That Assist and Barriers That Hinder the Success of Diversity Initiatives in Multinational Corporations" (Rose Mary Wentling) reports that factors that assisted in the success were classified under diversity department, human, and work environment; barriers were…

There are many reasons why cities with diverse populations may grow faster. Ethnic diversity might attract human capital, tourists or firms, increase productivity through diverse approaches to problem-solving or ethnic minority entrepreneurship. Yet there are also reasons to believe that diversity could be harmful, by leading to sub-optimal provision of public goods or reducing trust or social capital. Or it may be irrelevant, being merely a proxy for class. A number of studies have shown both positive and negative relationships between diversity and growth, using a range of different measures for "diversity." This paper asks two questions: have more diverse English cities grown faster? And does measurement matter: is it important to have a multinational population or an ethnically diverse one? To answer these questions, in this paper a range of models are estimated for employment growth for 53 English cities between 1981 and 2001. The evidence suggests that cities with a high proportion of their populations born abroad in 1981 grew faster in the subsequent 10 years. Neither diversity by country of birth nor ethnic diversity is significant in the period 1991-2001. However, when variables accounting for both are included together, it appears that cities with a large number of migrants saw higher employment growth in the 1990s, but that ethnically diverse cities were less successful. The results presented here suggest that considerable attention needs to be paid to the variable used to indicate "diversity" in these studies and that the impact of diversity varies according to nature of the groups any indicator for "diversity" is representing.

Full Text Available Generally speaking, the term differentiation refers to differences between collections for the distribution of specified traits of their members, while diversity deals with (effective numbers of trait states (types. Counting numbers of types implies discrete traits such as alleles and genotypes in population genetics or species and taxa in ecology. Comparisons between the concepts of differentiation and diversity therefore primarily refer to discrete traits. Diversity is related to differentiation through the idea that the total diversity of a subdivided collection should be composed of the diversity within the subcollections and a complement called “diversity between subcollections”. The idea goes back to the perception that the mixing of differentiated collections increases diversity. Several existing concepts of “diversity between subcollections” are based on this idea. Among them, β-diversity and fixation (inadvertently called differentiation are the most prominent in ecology and in population genetics, respectively. The pertaining measures are shown to quantify the effect of differentiation in terms of diversity components, though from a dual perspective: the classical perspective of differentiation between collections for their type compositions, and the reverse perspective of differentiation between types for their collection affiliations. A series of measures of diversity-oriented differentiation is presented that consider this dual perspective at two levels of diversity partitioning: the overall type or subcollection diversity and the joint type-subcollection diversity. It turns out that, in contrast with common notions, the measures of fixation (such as FST or GST refer to the perspective of type rather than subcollection differentiation. This unexpected observation strongly suggests that the popular interpretations of fixation measures must be reconsidered.

Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina — This map service summarizes racial and ethnic diversity in the United States in 2012.The Diversity Index shows the likelihood that two persons chosen at random from...

The purpose of this work was to study H2/CO2-utilizing acetogenic population in the colons of non-methane-producing individuals harboring low numbers of methanogenic archaea. Among the 50 H2-consuming acetogenic strains isolated from four fecal samples and an in vitro semi-continuous culture enrichment, with H2/CO2 as sole energy source, 20 were chosen for further studies. All isolates were Gram-positive strict anaerobes. Different morphological types were identified, providing evidence of generic diversity. All acetogenic strains characterized used H2/CO2 to form acetate as the sole metabolite, following the stoichiometric equation of reductive acetogenesis. These bacteria were also able to use a variety of organic compounds for growth. The major end product of glucose fermentation was acetate, except for strains of cocci that mainly produced lactate. Yeast extract was not necessary, but was stimulatory for growth and acetogenesis from H2/CO2.

Full Text Available Bacterial beta-glucuronidase activity in the gut increases the enterohepatic circulation of toxic compounds and plays a major role in the etiology of colon cancer. Previously, we had found that the gus gene, which codes for beta-glucuronidase in a dominant anaerobic species of the gut microbiota, Ruminococcus gnavus strain E1, is transcribed as part of an operon that includes three ORFs that code for beta-glucoside permeases of the phosphotransferase systems. This genetic organization had never been described. We have now compared beta-glucuronidase activity and the genetic environment of the gus gene in 14 strains of Ruminococcus gnavus.We found that five out of the seven glucuronidase-positive R. gnavus strains possessed another glucuronidase gene different from the gusA operon of R. gnavus E1. This dominant commensal intestinal species appears to have a high degree of genetic diversity in the genes that control beta-glucuronidase activity.

Full Text Available Okhla Bird Sanctuary (OBS is an Important Bird Area, which comes under the protected area network of Uttar Pradesh with one-third area lying in the state of Delhi (India. OBS has widest flood plains along the Delhi stretch of river Yamuna and is important in conserving the ecological wealth of floodplains of the river. Rapid urbanization and industrialization and discharge of untreated wastewater into the river have resulted in deteriorated water quality. The present study focused on assessment of water quality, aquatic flora and avifaunal diversity in the OBS. Water quality was analyzed following methods of APHA. For vegetation analysis, sub-merged and free-floating plants were scooped up from five randomly selected sites. Total bird counts were conducted for water birds and species richness, evenness and Shannon-Weaver species diversity indices were calculated. Results indicate that the organic load is very high in the wetland as evident from low levels of dissolved oxygen (2.26 ± 1.62 mg/l and high Biological and Chemical Oxygen Demands (15.20 ± 3.75 mg/l, 44.60 ± 12.07 mg/l. Nine species of free-floating and submerged plants were recorded; Hydrilla verticillata, Vallisneria spiralis, Azolla pinnata and Ceratophyllum demersum dominated both deep and shallow water areas. 52 species of waterbirds including four near-threatened species viz., Anhinga melanogaster, Mycteria leucocephala, Threskiornis melanocephalus and Aythya nyroca were recorded. OBS provides opportunities for conservation in a metropolitan area, thus, appropriate measures should be taken to maintain its ecological integrity.

Microbial culturomics is a new subfield of postgenomic medicine and omics biotechnology application that has broadened our awareness on bacterial diversity of the human microbiome, including the human vaginal flora bacterial diversity. Using culturomics, a new obligate anaerobic Gram-stain-negative rod-shaped bacterium designated strain khD1 T was isolated in the vagina of a patient with bacterial vaginosis and characterized using taxonogenomics. The most abundant cellular fatty acids were C 15:0 anteiso (36%), C 16:0 (19%), and C 15:0 iso (10%). Based on an analysis of the full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences, phylogenetic analysis showed that the strain khD1 T exhibited 90% sequence similarity with Prevotella loescheii, the phylogenetically closest validated Prevotella species. With 3,763,057 bp length, the genome of strain khD1 T contained (mol%) 48.7 G + C and 3248 predicted genes, including 3194 protein-coding and 54 RNA genes. Given the phenotypical and biochemical characteristic results as well as genome sequencing, strain khD1 T is considered to represent a novel species within the genus Prevotella, for which the name Prevotella lascolaii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is khD1 T ( = CSUR P0109, = DSM 101754). These results show that microbial culturomics greatly improves the characterization of the human microbiome repertoire by isolating potential putative new species. Further studies will certainly clarify the microbial mechanisms of pathogenesis of these new microbes and their role in health and disease. Microbial culturomics is an important new addition to the diagnostic medicine toolbox and warrants attention in future medical, global health, and integrative biology postgraduate teaching curricula.

Enzymes of the glycoside hydrolase family 42 (GH42) are widespread in bacteria of the human gut microbiome and play fundamental roles in the decomposition of both milk and plant oligosaccharides. All GH42 enzymes characterized so far have β-galactosidase activity. Here, we report the existence...

of organizational members in terms of individual-bound criteria (e.g., gender, age, or ethnicity). By drawing on Bakhtin's notion of polyphony as well as the 'communicative constitution of organizations' (CCO) perspective, we suggest reconsidering diversity as the plurality of 'voices' which can be understood......In this paper, we propose reconceptualizing diversity management from a communication-centered perspective. We base our proposal on the observation that the literature on diversity management, both in the instrumental and critical traditions, is primarily concerned with fostering the diversity...... as the range of individual opinions and societal discourses that get expressed and can find resonance in organizational settings. We contribute to the literature on diversity management by moving away from a focus on individual-bound and inalterable criteria of diversity and toward a reconceptualization...

In a multistage experiment, twelve 4- and 9-year-old children participated in a triad rating task. Their ratings were mapped with multidimensional scaling, from which euclidean distances were computed to operationalize semantic distance between items in target pairs. These children and age-mates then participated in an experiment that employed these target pairs in a story, which was followed by a misinformation manipulation. Analyses linked individual and developmental differences in suggestibility to children's representations of the target items. Semantic proximity was a strong predictor of differences in suggestibility: The closer a suggested distractor was to the original item's representation, the greater was the distractor's suggestive influence. The triad participants' semantic proximity subsequently served as the basis for correctly predicting memory performance in the larger group. Semantic proximity enabled a priori counterintuitive predictions of reverse age-related trends to be confirmed whenever the distance between representations of items in a target pair was greater for younger than for older children.

Summary Ruminococcus bromii is a dominant member of the human colonic microbiota that plays a ‘keystone’ role in degrading dietary resistant starch. Recent evidence from one strain has uncovered a unique cell surface ‘amylosome’ complex that organizes starch‐degrading enzymes. New genome analysis presented here reveals further features of this complex and shows remarkable conservation of amylosome components between human colonic strains from three different continents and a R. bromii strain from the rumen of Australian cattle. These R. bromii strains encode a narrow spectrum of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) that reflect extreme specialization in starch utilization. Starch hydrolysis products are taken up mainly as oligosaccharides, with only one strain able to grow on glucose. The human strains, but not the rumen strain, also possess transporters that allow growth on galactose and fructose. R. bromii strains possess a full complement of sporulation and spore germination genes and we demonstrate the ability to form spores that survive exposure to air. Spore formation is likely to be a critical factor in the ecology of this nutritionally highly specialized bacterium, which was previously regarded as ‘non‐sporing’, helping to explain its widespread occurrence in the gut microbiota through the ability to transmit between hosts. PMID:29159997

Full Text Available Abstract Background Humans and rodents with impaired phytanic acid (PA metabolism can accumulate toxic stores of PA that have deleterious effects on multiple organ systems. Ruminants and certain fish obtain PA from the microbial degradation of dietary chlorophyll and/or through chlorophyll-derived precursors. In contrast, humans cannot derive PA from chlorophyll and instead normally obtain it only from meat, dairy, and fish products. Results Captive apes and Old world monkeys had significantly higher red blood cell (RBC PA levels relative to humans when all subjects were fed PA-deficient diets. Given the adverse health effects resulting from PA over accumulation, we investigated the molecular evolution of thirteen PA metabolism genes in apes, Old world monkeys, and New world monkeys. All non-human primate (NHP orthologs are predicted to encode full-length proteins with the marmoset Phyh gene containing a rare, but functional, GA splice donor dinucleotide. Acox2, Scp2, and Pecr sequences had amino acid positions with accelerated substitution rates while Amacr had significant variation in evolutionary rates in apes relative to other primates. Conclusions Unlike humans, diverse captive NHPs with PA-deficient diets rich in plant products have substantial RBC PA levels. The favored hypothesis is that NHPs can derive significant amounts of PA from the degradation of ingested chlorophyll through gut fermentation. If correct, this raises the possibility that RBC PA levels could serve as a biomarker for evaluating the digestive health of captive NHPs. Furthermore, the evolutionary rates of the several genes relevant to PA metabolism provide candidate genetic adaptations to NHP diets.

Based on previous findings, from a worldwide study, classified the shapes of human hair into 8 major types, from straight to highly curly. This clearly extended the usual classification of hair into African, Asian or Caucasian types. However, determinations of hair growth parameters and hair density were excluded from such studies. To measure and compare the hair growth profiles of young adults without alopecia living in the five continents. 2249 young adults (18-35 years, females and males) without alopecia, originating from 24 various human ethnic groups were included in the study. Total hair density, telogen percentage and growth rate on three different scalp areas were measured, using non-invasive validated techniques. Natural hair colour level, curliness and hair diameter were additionally recorded, when practically possible. Diversity in hair growth parameters among the entire cohort was a key finding, with differences linked to scalp area, gender and geographic origin. Statistical approaches depicted African hair as having lower density and a slower growth rate. Asian hair showed a thicker diameter, with faster growth. Caucasian hair showed a high total hair density. On the one hand, this inter-continental study of hair growth parameters provides initial valuable base-line data on hair in young adults without alopecia, and on the other hand, further extends our knowledge of this unique human appendage, with some mosaic features, observed worldwide.

As one of the Muslim life guidelines, based on the meaning of its sentence(s), a hadith can be viewed as a suggestion for doing something, or a suggestion for not doing something, or just information without any suggestion. In this paper, we tried to classify the Bahasa translation of hadith into the three categories using machine learning approach. We tried stemming and stopword removal in preprocessing, and TF-IDF of unigram, bigram, and trigram as the extracted features. As the classifier, we compared between SVM and Neural Network. Since the categories are new, so in order to compare the results of the previous pipelines, we created a baseline classifier using simple rule-based string matching technique. The rule-based algorithm conditions on the occurrence of words such as “janganlah, sholatlah, and so on” to determine the category. The baseline method achieved F1-Score of 0.69, while the best F1-Score from the machine learning approach was 0.88, and it was produced by SVM model with the linear kernel.

The present study investigated interrogative suggestibility in opiate users. A group of patients undergoing a methadone detoxification programme in an in-patient drug treatment unit (Detox group, n = 21), and a group of residents who had come off drugs and were no longer suffering from withdrawal syndrome (Rehab group, n = 19) were compared on interrogative suggestibility and various other psychological factors. Significant differences were found between the two groups, with the Detox group having more physical and psychological problems, and a higher total suggestibility score in comparison with the Rehab group. These findings are discussed in relation to the context of police interrogations and the reliability of confessions made by suspects and witnesses dependent on opiates.

Recently, global workforce diversity and its management have received criticism for not paying attention to the contextual influence stemming from socially constructed dialectics of power and politics. These contextual dynamics, however, tend to be viewed as external to the organization....... In this article, we follow the call for critically investigating the contexts influencing diversity management by analyzing the development of a global human resource management project initiated to promote a culturally diverse workforce. We find that despite good intentions, as well as support from the top...... management, the project dissolves through micropolitics and power dynamics. We contribute to the critical literature on workforce diversity by identifying how organizational contextual dynamics influence the way the concept of workforce diversity is constructed and understood at work. Based on these findings...

Full Text Available Dietary microRNAs (miRNAs, notably those found in milk, are currently being investigated for their potential to elicit biological effects via canonical binding to human messenger RNA targets once ingested. Besides milk, beef and other bovine tissue-derived ingredients could also be a relevant source of potentially bioactive dietary miRNAs. In this study, we characterized the human homologous miRNA profiles in food-grade, bovine-sourced sirloin, heart and adrenal tissue (raw, cooked, and pasteurized, freeze-dried extracts via deep-sequencing and quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR. A total of 198 human homologous miRNAs were detected at 10 or more normalized reads in all replicates (n = 3 of at least one preparation method. Tissue origin rather than preparation method was the major differentiating factor of miRNA profiles, and adrenal-based miRNA profiles were the most distinct. The ten most prevalent miRNAs in each tissue represented 71-93% of the total normalized counts for all annotated miRNAs. In cooked sirloin, the most abundant miRNAs were miR-10b-5p, (48.8% of total annotated miRNA reads along with the muscle-specific miR-1 (24.1% and miR-206 (4.8%. In dried heart extracts, miR-1 (17.0%, miR-100-5p (16.1% and miR-99a-5p (11.0% gave the highest normalized read counts. In dried adrenal extracts, miR-10b-5p (71.2% was the most prominent followed by miR-143-3p (7.1% and 146b-5p (3.7%. Sequencing results for five detected and two undetected miRNAs were successfully validated by RT-qPCR. We conclude that edible, bovine tissues contain unique profiles of human homologous dietary miRNAs that survive heat-based preparation methods.

Recent research has illustrated how human demographic diversity influences the outcomes of public sector organizations. Most studies focus on workforce diversity and little is known about how managerial diversity affects organizational outcomes. This study focuses on top management team gender...... diversity. Theory suggests that diversity can lead to varied outcomes. It may provide knowledge and new ideas used for organizational development. However, team diversity is likely to slow down decision making and make consensus more difficult to reach. In a longitudinal study of top management teams...... in Danish municipalities this study finds diversity to be associated with an increased use of contracting but also higher budgetary instabilities. These results are interpreted in light of existing theory and implications are suggested....

– The work can encourage policy makers, diversity and HR managers to question their own practices and assumptions leading to more theoretical informed diversity management practices. Originality/value – The theoretical connections between identity and diversity literature have so far not been reviewed......The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the identity and diversity literatures and discuss how a better understanding of the theoretical connections between the two informs both diversity research and diversity management practices. Design/methodology/approach – Literature...... and limitations – is crucial for successful diversity management research and practice. Research limitations/implications – The authors argue for a better understanding of differences, overlaps and limits of different identity perspectives, and for a stronger engagement with practice. Practical implications...

Full Text Available Following rabies virus (RABV exposure, a combination of thorough wound washing, multiple-dose vaccine administration and the local infiltration of rabies immune globulin (RIG are essential components of modern post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP. Although modern cell-culture-based rabies vaccines are increasingly used in many countries, RIG is much less available. The prohibitive cost of polyclonal serum RIG products has prompted a search for alternatives and design of anti-RABV monoclonal antibodies (MAbs that can be manufactured on a large scale with a consistent potency and lower production costs. Robust in vitro neutralization activity has been demonstrated for the CL184 MAb cocktail, a 1:1 protein mixture of two human anti-RABV MAbs (CR57/CR4098, against a large panel of RABV isolates. In this study, we used a hamster model to evaluate the efficacy of experimental PEP against a lethal challenge. Various doses of CL184 and commercial rabies vaccine were assessed for the ability to protect against lethal infection with representatives of four distinct bat RABV lineages of public health relevance: silver-haired bat (Ln RABV; western canyon bat (Ph RABV; big brown bat (Ef-w1 RABV and Mexican free-tailed bat RABV (Tb RABV. 42–100% of animals survived bat RABV infection when CL184 (in combination with the vaccine was administered. A dose-response relationship was observed with decreasing doses of CL184 resulting in increasing mortality. Importantly, CL184 was highly effective in neutralizing and clearing Ph RABV in vivo, even though CR4098 does not neutralize this virus in vitro. By comparison, 19–95% survivorship was observed if human RIG (20 IU/kg and vaccine were used following challenge with different bat viruses. Based on our results, CL184 represents an efficacious alternative for RIG. Both large-scale and lower cost production could ensure better availability and affordability of this critical life-saving biologic in rabies enzootic

Large scale transcript analysis of human glomerular microvascular endothelial cells (HGMEC) has never been accomplished. We designed this study to define the transcriptome of HGMEC and facilitate a better characterization of these endothelial cells with unique features. Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was used for its unbiased approach to quantitative acquisition of transcripts. We generated a HGMEC SAGE library consisting of 68,987 transcript tags. Then taking advantage of large public databases and advanced bioinformatics we compared the HGMEC SAGE library with a SAGE library of non-cultured ex vivo human glomeruli (44,334 tags) which contained endothelial cells. The 823 tags common to both which would have the potential to be expressed in vivo were subsequently checked against 822,008 tags from 16 non-glomerular endothelial SAGE libraries. This resulted in 268 transcript tags differentially overexpressed in HGMEC compared to non-glomerular endothelia. These tags were filtered using a set of criteria: never before shown in kidney or any type of endothelial cell, absent in all nephron regions except the glomerulus, more highly expressed than statistically expected in HGMEC. Neurogranin, a direct target of thyroid hormone action which had been thought to be brain specific and never shown in endothelial cells before, fulfilled these criteria. Its expression in glomerular endothelium in vitro and in vivo was then verified by real-time-PCR, sequencing and immunohistochemistry. Our results represent an extensive molecular characterization of HGMEC beyond a mere database, underline the endothelial heterogeneity, and propose neurogranin as a potential link in the kidney-thyroid axis.

of diversity that, however, constantly change due to the empty form of diversity. Anxiety manifests itself in the obsession of unobtainable idealised forms of diversity as well as in the uncertainty associated with the traumatic experience of always falling short of what is desired in an object...... – the experience of failed diversity. Conclusively, we discuss the productive potential of the power of lack. The impossibility of diversity is what, at once, conditions the possibility of diversity. We therefore suggest that the symptomatic anxiety provoked by the lack should be enjoyed in order to engage...

Neural stem cells (NSCs) have the ability to self-renew and to differentiate into various cell types of the central nervous system. This potential can be recapitulated by human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in vitro. The differentiation capacity of hiPSCs is characterized by several stages with distinct morphologies and the expression of various marker molecules. We used the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) 487 LeX , 5750 LeX and 473HD to analyze the expression pattern of particular carbohydrate motifs as potential markers at six differentiation stages of hiPSCs. Mouse ESCs were used as a comparison. At the pluripotent stage, 487 LeX -, 5750 LeX - and 473HD-related glycans were differently expressed. Later, cells of the three germ layers in embryoid bodies (hEBs) and, even after neuralization of hEBs, subpopulations of cells were labeled with these surface antibodies. At the human rosette-stage of NSCs (hR-NSC), LeX- and 473HD-related epitopes showed antibody-specific expression patterns. We also found evidence that these surface antibodies could be used to distinguish the hR-NSCs from the hSR-NSCs stages. Characterization of hNSCs FGF-2/EGF derived from hSR-NSCs revealed that both LeX antibodies and the 473HD antibody labeled subpopulations of hNSCs FGF-2/EGF . Finally, we identified potential LeX carrier molecules that were spatiotemporally regulated in early and late stages of differentiation. Our study provides new insights into the regulation of glycoconjugates during early human stem cell development. The mAbs 487 LeX , 5750 LeX and 473HD are promising tools for identifying distinct stages during neural differentiation.

Team gender diversity has been much debated in many different contexts – not least since the search for a main effect of diversity on performance was launched. However, results have so far been inconclusive, and a number of scholars suggest that more attention should be directed at contextual...... factors which could influence the effect of gender diversity on team performance. In this study, we explore the effect of positive diversity attitudes and assess the degree of gender diversity where such group attitudes have greater impact. This is done by using a sample of 1085 leaders of academic...... research teams. Findings show that positive diversity attitude in the form of group openness to diversity is strongly associated with team performance. We also find a moderating effect of gender diversity meaning that the effect of openness to diversity is stronger when gender groups are more balanced...

Full Text Available Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs from human dental pulp (DP can be expanded in vitro for cell-based and regenerative dentistry therapeutic purposes. However, their heterogeneity may be a hurdle to the achievement of reproducible and predictable therapeutic outcomes. To get a better knowledge about this heterogeneity, we designed a flow cytometric strategy to analyze the phenotype of DP cells in vivo and upon in vitro expansion with stem cell markers. We focused on the CD31- cell population to exclude endothelial and leukocytic cells. Results showed that the in vivo CD31- DP cell population contained 1.4% of CD56+, 1.5% of CD146+, 2.4% of CD271+ and 6.3% of MSCA-1+ cells but very few Stro-1+ cells (≤1%. CD56+, CD146+, CD271+ and MSCA-1+ cell subpopulations expressed various levels of these markers. CD146+MSCA-1+, CD271+MSCA-1+ and CD146+CD271+ cells were the most abundant DP-MSC populations. Analysis of DP-MSCs expanded in vitro with a medicinal manufacturing approach showed that CD146 was expressed by about 50% of CD56+, CD271+, MSCA-1+ and Stro-1+ cells, and MSCA-1 by 15-30% of CD56+, CD146+, CD271+ and Stro-1+ cells. These ratios remained stable with passages. CD271 and Stro-1 were expressed by less than 1% of the expanded cell populations. Interestingly, the percentage of CD56+ cells strongly increased from P1 (25% to P4 (80% both in all sub-populations studied. CD146+CD56+, MSCA-1+CD56+ and CD146+MSCA-1+ cells were the most abundant DP-MSCs at the end of P4. These results established that DP-MSCs constitute a heterogeneous mixture of cells in pulp tissue in vivo and in culture, and that their phenotype is modified upon in vitro expansion. Further studies are needed to determine whether co-expression of specific MSC markers confers DP cells specific properties that could be used for the regeneration of human tissues, including the dental pulp, with standardized cell-based medicinal products.

Human milk, serum, saliva, and seminal fluid glycoproteins (gps) nourish and protect newborn and adult tissues. Their saccharides, which resemble cell membrane components, may block pathogen adhesion and infection. In the present study, they were examined by a battery of lectins from plants, animals, and bacteria, using hemagglutination inhibition and Western blot analyses. The lectins included galactophilic ones from Aplysia gonad, Erythrina corallodendron, Maclura pomifera (MPL), peanut, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA-IL); fucose-binding lectins from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA-IIL), Ralstonia solanacearum (RSL), and Ulex europaeus (UEA-I), and mannose/glucose-binding Con A. The results demonstrated the chosen lectin efficiency for differential analysis of human secreted gps as compared to CBB staining. They unveiled the diversity of these body fluid gp glycans (those of the milk and seminal fluid being highest): the milk gps interacted most strongly with PA-IIL, followed by RSL; the saliva gps with RSL, followed by PA-IIL and MPL; the serum gps with Con A and MPL, followed by PA-IIL and RSL, and the seminal plasma gps with RSL and MPL, followed by UEA-I and PA-IIL. The potential usage of these lectins as probes for scientific, industrial, and medical purposes, and for quality control of the desired gps is clearly indicated.

This entry provides an overview of diversity management which, in the context of organizations, consists in the strategic process of harnessing the potential of all employees to create an inclusive environment and, at the same time, contribute to meeting organizational goals. The entry first...... describes the complex construct of diversity that has been variously conceptualized in the literature, embracing multiple social and informational diversity dimensions such as gender, age, culture, values, and workstyle. This is followed by illustration of the historical development of diversity-management...... discourse and practice, and possible overarching approaches guiding organizations. It goes on to elucidate elements linked to the implementation of diversity management: positive and negative outcomes, most spread practices including communication, and contingency factors shaping the understanding...

Brain, Mind and Consciousness are the research concerns of psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, cognitive neuroscientists and philosophers. All of them are working in different and important ways to understand the workings of the brain, the mysteries of the mind and to grasp that elusive concept called consciousness. Although they are all justified in forwarding their respective researches, it is also necessary to integrate these diverse appearing understandings and try and get a comprehensive perspective that is, hopefully, more than the sum of their parts. There is also the need to understand what each one is doing, and by the other, to understand each other's basic and fundamental ideological and foundational underpinnings. This must be followed by a comprehensive and critical dialogue between the respective disciplines. Moreover, the concept of mind and consciousness in Indian thought needs careful delineation and critical/evidential enquiry to make it internationally relevant. The brain-mind dyad must be understood, with brain as the structural correlate of the mind, and mind as the functional correlate of the brain. To understand human experience, we need a triad of external environment, internal environment and a consciousness that makes sense of both. We need to evolve a consensus on the definition of consciousness, for which a working definition in the form of a Consciousness Tetrad of Default, Aware, Operational and Evolved Consciousness is presented. It is equally necessary to understand the connection between physical changes in the brain and mental operations, and thereby untangle and comprehend the lattice of mental operations. Interdisciplinary work and knowledge sharing, in an atmosphere of healthy give and take of ideas, and with a view to understand the significance of each other's work, and also to critically evaluate the present corpus of knowledge from these diverse appearing fields, and then carry forward from there in a spirit of

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many anticancer agents and carcinogens are DNA damaging chemicals and exposure to such chemicals results in the deregulation of cell cycle progression. The molecular mechanisms of DNA damage-induced cell cycle alteration are not well understood. We have studied the effects of etoposide (an anticancer agent, cryptolepine (CLP, a cytotoxic alkaloid, benzo [a]pyrene (BaP, a carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP, a cooked-meat derived carcinogen on the expression of cell cycle regulatory genes to understand the m